ACT public servants could get cash bonuses to help them cope with cost-of-living pressures. 

The ACT Government has announced plans to provide a one-time bonus of $1,250 to its workers at the start of a new enterprise agreement. 

The revised three-year agreement will replace the previous four-year offer and proposes a combination of fixed-dollar increases and percentage increases in employee salaries over the agreement's life. The proposed pay raises and other entitlements under the revised offer remain unchanged.

The proposal is aimed at supporting workers who are feeling the financial pinch, and lower-paid employees will receive higher increases than if a recurrent percentage was applied. 

The proposed pay rise for full-time equivalent (FTE) employees earning $157,201 is 3.2 per cent in year one, while those earning $53,868 will receive a 7.5 per cent increase. The proposal will result in a total pay increase of 9.6 per cent ($15,045) for FTE employees earning $157,201 and 17.1 per cent ($9,237) for those earning $53,868 over the term of the agreement.

The government says it has also progressed claims and additional benefits and entitlements for eligible workers, such as expanding current leave entitlements, broadening flextime provisions, widening access to the health and wellbeing allowance, and simplifying dispute and misconduct provisions. The proposed changes are part of the common core aspects of all agreements.

Negotiations for enterprise bargaining began in May 2022, and the last update on the talks was made in December 2022. 

The deputy director-general of the ACT office of industrial relations and workforce strategy, Dr Damian West, says that eligible workers will receive their back pay of salary and relevant allowances from the first full pay period in January 2023 once relevant enterprise agreements are balloted and approved by the Fair Work Commission. 

The various agreements will be prepared, finalised, and balloted once the core agreement is settled, and staff will be provided access to information on those agreements that are ready for ballot potentially as early as the end of March 2023. 

The government says the entitlements will be paid as soon as possible after the agreement has been approved by the Fair Work Commission and comes into effect.