After the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) published an advice to evaluate allowances in the Public Service, it is expected that teachers will suffer significant reductions in their Daily Subsistence Allowances (DSA).
In its most recent advice, which will go into effect on August 7, 2023, the SRC has standardised the rates of DSA for local travel.
These rates will be payable to public employees, such as teachers, all throughout the country, in contrast to the previous system, in which the allowances were grouped into three primary clusters.
If the recommendation made by the country’s wages regulator is carried out in its entirety, the daily subsistence allowance (DSA) for local travel in all of the country’s cities and towns will now range from Ksh4, 200 to Ksh18, 200.
According to the advise, the discretionary spending allowance (DSA) for local travel will not be given for sites that are within a 50-kilometer radius of the officers’ respective duty stations.
Due to the fact that they are required to travel for their jobs, instructors and more specifically TSC field officials, which include Regional, County, and Sub-county Directors, will be the most negatively impacted by this.
In a circular dated August 7, 2023, the Chairperson of the commission, Lyn Mengich, claimed that the action aims at ensuring equity and transparency in the management of allowances, and to offer guidance to the government in the handling of the pay bill.
Mengich also indicated that the purpose of the measure is to offer guidance to the government regarding the handling of the wage bill.
The review and advice therefrom is expected to result in equity and transparency in the management of allowances, and guide the government in the management of the wage bill,” said Mengich in the advisory to the Attorney General, Controller of Budget, Auditor General, and other government authorities.
“DSA shall not be payable for locations that are within a 50km radius of respective duty stations of the officers affected,” she noted in the Circular. “DSA shall not be payable for locations that are within a 50km radius of respective duty stations.”
Initially, the local travel DSA ranged from Ksh4,200 to Ksh22,000 in cluster one, which included the cities of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, and Nakuru; in cluster two, which included County headquarters, Malindi, and Naivasha, the local travel DSA ranged from Ksh3,500 to Ksh18,000.
The Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) for local travel ranged from Ksh3,000 to Ksh14,000 for cluster three, which encompassed all other towns.
It is always the intention of the payment of DSA to make it easier for public employees to attend official assignments away from their duty stations, whether those duty stations are located inside or outside the country.
Allowances that are given to teachers can either be remunerative or reimbursable. Remunerative allowances are those that are paid in addition to salary, whilst reimbursable allowances are those that are refunded upon request.
There are two categories of remunerative allowances: automatic, which covers home, medical, commuter, and hardship, and discretionary, which does not include any of these categories.
While others, such as the Quota per Diem, which is a daily subsistence allowance granted to instructors who are on official assignment and for which an application must be made at least 14 days before flying, are paid upon application, others, such as responsibility and special duty allowances, readers and interpreters, and special schools, are paid upon application.
