Ministerial pay to rise by up to 9 per cent in first adjustment since 2011

: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Salaries for political officeholders were last updated in 2012, with the changes backdated to 2011 when the new term of government started. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG Lim Yan Liang Updated Sep 08, 2026, PM Set as preferred source Listen live coverage here. SINGAPORE – Political office-holders will get a one-off pay increase of up to 9 per cent, as the Government accepts the recommendations of a committee convened in December 2025 to review political salaries. This means an MR4 grade entry-level minister getting the full adjustment will see his annual pay rise from $1.1 million to $1.2 million when the revised framework takes effect from Oct 15. Speaking in Parliament on Sept 8, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said the Government has accepted the committee’s recommendation to update the MR4 benchmark from $1.1 million to $1.8 million. The salary range for ministers will also be widened. Beyond the one-off increase, PM Wong said, ministers’ salaries will continue to be adjusted based on performance, and that he expects most MR4 ministers to earn about $1.35 million – the lower end of the new salary range – . The Prime Minister said he decided to act now given that ministerial salaries have fallen far behind both private sector and civil service salaries in the last 15 years. While the gap is most obvious when compared with the private sector, even in the public service there are some senior permanent secretaries who earn more than ministers, he said. Since then, successive governments had decided to hold back on further changes due to reasons such as global instability, even though the salary framework remained relevant. In 2017, a review committee recommended an upward adjustment, but the Government decided not to make any changes due to economic uncertainties. The next review was scheduled for 2023, but was deferred. “We cannot affirm a framework in principle but disregard it indefinitely in practice,” said PM Wong. “Otherwise, over time, the framework loses its meaning. Restraint cannot become neglect.” While candidates looking to enter political service will still be expected to make a meaningful sacrifice, PM Wong said the revised salary structure will give him more room to differentiate pay according to performance, and crucially to bring in people with substantial experience from outside the Government. This includes those already earning significantly more in the private sector, he added. Under the framework, ministerial salaries are benchmarked to the median income of the top 1,000 earners who are Singaporean citizens, with a 40 per cent discount to reflect the ethos of political service.