Nearly €7 million to be allocated for pay hikes in internal security sector
Next year, €6.9 million of the state budget will be allocated to wage increases in the internal security area of government in Estonia, making up just over four percent of the salary fund for internal security staff, the Ministry of the Interior announced on Monday.
The majority of the funding earmarked for increasing wages will go to the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA).
The PPA will receive €4.5 million for increasing employee wages, which accounts for 4.1 percent of the institution's salary fund. Among other things, the PPA will use the extra funding to increase police officials' minimum wage from the current €975 to €1,075 per month.
The Rescue Board will receive an additional €1.6 million, or nearly 4.3 percent of its salary fund. The majority of this funding will go toward increased wages for rescue squads and operational employees. For example, a rescue squad member's average pay together with bonuses will increase 5.2 percent from €855 to €900 per month.
The Ministry of the Interior's IT and Development Centre (SMIT) will receive just over €449,000, or 5.2 percent of the institution's salary fund, for increasing the wages of its IT employees.
A large portion of this money will go toward increasing the wages of those employees responsible for the creation and management of information systems, including developers and system administrators. Police and rescuers' work today would be impossible without IT services, the ministry noted in a press release.
Estonia's emergency call center, the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences and the Ministry of the Interior will also receive additional funding next year. The emergency call center will dedicate €215,000 toward increasing rescue leaders' average wages from €979 to €1,033 per month, while the Academy of Security Sciences will put €149,000 toward the establishment of a new 25-cadet distance learning group at the Police and Border Guard College.
The Ministry of the Interior will receive €149,000, or 2.5 percent of its salary fund, for increasing employee wages.
Editor: Aili Vahtla