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PM Lawrence Wong says the revised framework will address a 15-year gap while avoiding an immediate move to the new S$1.8mn MR4 benchmark. Salaries will instead be adjusted progressively based on individual performance and responsibilities.
Singapore’s political salary framework will continue to be based on a competitive remuneration model with a substantial discount for public service, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said in his wrap-up speech on 10 September 2026.
Speaking during Parliament’s debate on the Government’s response to the 2026 Review of Salaries for Political Appointment Holders and Members of Parliament, PM Wong said there was broad agreement across the House on the principles behind political remuneration.
The key differences, he said, centred on how the framework should be calibrated and how the Government should implement the latest review recommendations.
Political salary benchmark remains, with refinements
PM Wong said the Review Committee had examined the existing framework afresh, including whether the top 1,000 Singaporean earners remained a relevant reference group and whether the resulting salary levels were fair and reasonable.
He stressed that the benchmark does not mean the Government intends to recruit political leaders only from those 1,000 individuals.
Instead, it serves as a reference point to capture the opportunity costs faced by people with the ability and experience to take on demanding national responsibilities, whether from the private sector, public service, professions or elsewhere.
Following its review, the committee concluded that the basic formula remained sound, while recommending several refinements. The same broad conclusion had also been reached by the previous independent review committees in 2012 and 2017, PM Wong noted.
Under the unchanged formula, the MR4 reference salary will rise from S$1.1mn to S$1.8mn. PM Wong said the increase reflects the fact that the benchmark had remained effectively unchanged for 15 years, while salaries elsewhere in the economy continued to rise.
He pointed to the remuneration of senior Permanent Secretaries and appellate judges, which is determined under separate frameworks, noting that their reference salaries are now higher than both the current and revised MR4 benchmarks. However, he stressed that this does not mean ministerial salaries should simply match those positions.
Rather, the different remuneration frameworks have arrived at broadly comparable levels for senior public responsibilities, while political service continues to carry a more substantial discount.
Government rejects further delay
Turning to implementation, PM Wong said the Government had considered several options.
The first was to defer the adjustment again. The Government had previously held back from making the recommended adjustment in 2017 and deferred the review in 2023.
PM Wong said another delay would allow the gap to widen further and make it more difficult to address later. He acknowledged concerns about the timing, particularly amid cost-of-living pressures and uncertainty over jobs and livelihoods. However, he said there would never be a politically convenient time to adjust political salaries.
The review committee was convened in December 2025, but its work coincided with the conflict in Iran, which led the Government to prioritise managing its immediate consequences for Singapore. With the domestic economic situation having since stabilised, PM Wong said he decided the Government should address the issue rather than defer it again.
Serving officeholders will not move straight to S$1.8mn
A second option would have been to move all serving officeholders immediately to the new benchmarks.
PM Wong said this would not be appropriate, given that current officeholders are at different salary points and grades. Instead, the Government will implement a one-off adjustment of up to 9%, taking into account that the salary structure has been frozen for 15 years.
The adjustment will be differentiated. After this one-off adjustment, salaries will return to the normal process of annual adjustments based on individual performance and responsibilities.
For an MR4 Minister currently receiving the S$1.1mn reference salary, this means an increase to no more than around S$1.2mn after the October adjustment. PM Wong said most MR4 Ministers are expected to reach the lower end of the new salary range, around S$1.35mn, by the end of the current term of government, subject to performance.
He stressed that the Government is not moving ministers directly to the new S$1.8mn benchmark. The third option considered was to disregard the formula and adopt a lower benchmark because S$1.8mn may appear high.
PM Wong said this would undermine the purpose of having an independent committee determine the appropriate benchmark. Instead, the Government has accepted the framework while choosing to move towards it gradually through implementation.
Prime Minister to donate full salary increase for five years
Under the framework, the Prime Minister’s salary is pegged at twice the MR4 benchmark. As the MR4 reference salary is updated, PM Wong’s reference salary will therefore also increase.
He said that for the next five years, he will donate the full increase in his salary to good causes, including any tax benefit arising from the donations, adding that he would continue to donate to good causes after the five-year period, but would do so quietly and without publicity.
Salary bill expected to remain broadly stable
PM Wong also sought to put the financial impact of the adjustment into perspective.
Even if every officeholder received the maximum 9% one-off adjustment, the additional expenditure would be about S$5mn, he said. The actual amount is expected to be lower because the adjustment will be differentiated.
Currently, salaries for all political officeholders cost around S$55mn, with the total varying depending on the number of officeholders appointed or promoted and the National Bonus paid.
As a share of GDP, PM Wong said the expenditure is lower today than it was 10 years ago, while the overall salary bill as a share of GDP has remained stable in recent years. He said he intends to keep it broadly at this level going forward.
Wider salary ranges to allow greater flexibility
PM Wong also addressed concerns over the wider salary ranges recommended by the committee.
The ranges will give the Prime Minister greater discretion to differentiate salaries according to performance, roles and responsibilities, as well as when recruiting people with substantial experience from outside Government.
With greater discretion, however, comes greater responsibility, PM Wong said. He noted that ministers have different strengths and experiences, and may perform at different levels or take different amounts of time to develop in their roles. Performance assessments, he said, would therefore consider an individual’s overall performance over time rather than focus on a single speech, controversy or set of headlines.
PM Wong also said he would consider whether more information about salary and performance bonus distributions could be disclosed. At the same time, he cautioned against turning ministerial assessments into a public popularity contest or ranking ministers individually from year to year.
He said ministers need to work as a team and look beyond their individual portfolios, as some decisions may take years to produce results and others may be difficult or unpopular in the short term.
Where there are serious issues of conduct or integrity, PM Wong said ministers are held to the highest standards and would have to leave if those standards are breached.
Politics remains a calling, not a financial incentive
PM Wong also reiterated that people should not enter politics for the money.
"Many Members in this debate have emphasised that politics must be a calling, and that people should not enter public life for the money."
Political service, he said, is a choice to take responsibility for the country and the lives of fellow citizens, with Singapore’s interests placed ahead of personal interests.
However, he said competitive remuneration can help reduce the financial barriers for people who are already motivated to serve.
This is particularly relevant for potential candidates in their 40s who may already have established careers, mortgages, children and other family commitments.
Entering politics can involve significant disruption and sacrifice, PM Wong said, and the salary framework is intended to ensure that the financial cost does not become unnecessarily high for those who are prepared to step forward.
He shared his own experience of entering politics in 2011 after leaving the civil service, noting that he did so without knowing where he would contest, whether he would be elected, what responsibilities he would receive or what he would be paid.
PM Wong said he did not regret making that decision, describing political service as a different responsibility from implementing Government decisions.
National Bonus to place greater weight on jobs and incomes
Coordinating Minister for Public Services Chan Chun Sing, who addressed the specific aspects of the salary framework, said the debate ultimately centred on building a system that gives future generations a better chance of assembling a strong political team.
Minister Chan acknowledged that financial compensation should not be the primary consideration for political service. Potential candidates also have to weigh public scrutiny, loss of privacy, electoral uncertainty, public expectations and the possibility of failure. However, he said remuneration remains a practical consideration for people who already have established careers and financial responsibilities.
The Government's objective, he said, is not to enrich political officeholders but to keep the pool of potential candidates broad enough to form a strong and diverse team. Under the revised framework, the S$1.8mn MR4 figure is a reference point rather than an entitlement.
For serving MR4 Ministers, there will be no immediate move from S$1.1mn to S$1.8mn. The one-off adjustment is capped at 9% and will be differentiated according to individual circumstances, including performance and when the person’s salary was last adjusted.
A Minister currently at S$1.1mn would receive no more than about S$1.2mn, with subsequent adjustments depending on performance and responsibilities. Minister Chan said this is equivalent to an average of 0.6% per year over the past 15 years. He also reiterated that most MR4 Ministers are expected to reach around S$1.35mn by the end of the current term, rather than S$1.8mn.
Around 35% of ministerial salary is variable
Minister Chan further clarified that the headline annual salary figures discussed are not guaranteed sums. About 65% of the annual salary is fixed, while around 35% is variable.
For example, a Minister at a S$1.2mn reference salary would receive S$780,000 as the fixed component, with the remaining S$420,000 subject to variable bonuses based on individual performance and national outcomes.
The National Bonus has ranged from less than one month to more than five months in recent years, with an average of about three months. Since 2011, payouts have ranged from 0.75 months to 5.6 months, depending on national performance. From next year, the targets for the three socioeconomic indicators covering jobs and incomes will be tightened.
Minister Chan said back-testing suggested that if the tighter targets had been applied over the previous 10 years, the National Bonus would have been about one month lower each year on average. The change is intended to place greater emphasis on the socioeconomic progress of Singaporeans rather than GDP alone.
The Government will also study the feasibility of introducing a Quality-of-Life indicator into the National Bonus. Minister Chan said this would require careful consideration because some outcomes are qualitative, take place over several years, or may be difficult to measure consistently.
We must have people with different strengths and experiences to be able to tackle different challenges.
Government to study MP and Mayor benchmarks
The Government also agreed to examine the benchmark for Members of Parliament and Mayors. Minister Chan said the current approach, where the MP allowance is expressed as a fraction of the MR4 benchmark, is not particularly intuitive.
The Government will study the issue and consult stakeholders on whether a better benchmark can be developed. He stressed that the MP payment is an allowance, rather than a salary, and is intended to support constituency work.
The Government will also look into updating the allowances for Legislative Assistants and Secretarial Assistants, although no changes were made to these payments in the current exercise as they were outside the review’s terms of reference.
A framework for the next generation
In closing, both ministers returned to the longer-term purpose of the salary review.
PM Wong said the Government’s approach is intended to address the gap that has built up over 15 years without over-correcting in the present. The framework will continue to evolve, with another independent review expected in five years.
Minister Chan similarly said the adjustments do not guarantee that Singapore will assemble the right leadership team but are intended to give the country a better chance of doing so.
According to PM Wong, the debate ultimately goes beyond the salaries received by current Ministers, MPs or the present Government.
The Government’s stated focus is on maintaining a system that can continue to attract capable people willing to take on political responsibility, while ensuring that Singapore has the leadership needed to navigate future challenges.
As the next review approaches, the framework will again be assessed against how it has operated in practice and the circumstances facing Singapore at that time.
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Lead image / PM Wong's Facebook
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