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This session was particularly onerous and some of the outcomes were quite disappointing for staff.  This was most notably the case concerning the allowance for a second household for staff assigned to non-family duty stations.  As the Commission did not approve the proposals made by the ICSC technical working group (ICSC/71/R.16), the Commission retired to private sessions to work out a solution. After a week of discussions in private, informal and plenary sessions, the result of “harmonization” was a new allowance for peacekeeping staff, which satisfied the UN administration, but at the same time seriously let down the organizations currently using the Special Operations Approach (SOA). If approved by the General Assembly, staff in organizations currently applying the SOA scheme would see the allowance for a second household reduced by up to more than 60% between now and 2015. This move will likely make it more difficult for the specialized agencies to recruit staff for work in non-family duty stations while at the same time facilitating recruitment for peacekeeping positions. Ironically, it is just this type of competition between agencies that the so-called ‘harmonization’ of conditions of service is meant to prevent! FICSA has its advocacy work cut out for itself as a strong campaign against the reduced allowance will need to target this year’s Fifth Committee representatives.

Another disappointment to staff concerned the decision of the Commission not to establish a formal working group for the purpose of reviewing pensionable remuneration (PR). It was decided instead that the secretariats of the Pension Fund and the Commission would meet informally and as necessary to complete the review. The recommendations would be presented at the 72^nd sessions of the ICSC in spring 2011 and a final report would be discussed at the 58^th session of the UNJSPB and at the 73^rd session of the ICSC for final approval. Thus, staff representatives will be excluded from this stage of the review process. Since staff contribute substantially to the Pension Fund, excluding them seems particularly inappropriate.

The review itself appears to be comprehensive, including the common scale of staff assessment, income replacement ratios, non-pensionable component, double taxation, small pensions and the impact of steep devaluation of local currency and/or high inflation. Fortunately, the Commission did not agree to the comparison of the UN pension scheme with the U.S. federal civil service scheme since they are different types of plans – the UN has a defined benefit scheme while the US is a defined contribution scheme. However, a comparison of the two schemes on the basis of cost to the employer will be carried out.

ICSC reviews the level of the education grant every two years based on information submitted by the HR Network. The Commission decided to increase the level of the grant in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, UK, USA and the US dollar area outside the US.

Current grant levels were maintained in Belgium, Ireland, Japan and Sweden.  With the exception of Ireland and Japan, boarding rates were increased.

Special measures would be discontinued for Bulgaria but maintained for China, Hungary, Indonesia, Romania, the Russian Federation and the eight specific schools in France.

ICSC also discussed the upcoming review of the education grant methodology and identified a number of issues to include in the review. These included inter alia the underlying philosophy of the grant, zoning, streamlining the list of admissible expenses, how adjustments are done, exchange rates, and criteria used for determining special measures.

The Commission was requested by the General Assembly to look into possible cases of misuse of the termination indemnity. After review of the data presented by the HR Network, ICSC concluded that it did not demonstrate any inappropriate application of the scheme and that the overall termination indemnity-based separation trends appeared to be driven by the operational  needs of the organizations.

The children's and secondary dependant's allowances were also up for review this year. The new global flat rate for the children's allowance, established in 2008, would be $2929, while the rate for a secondary dependant, set at 35% of the children's allowance, would be $1025, if approved by the General Assembly this fall. The disabled children's allowance would be $5858. As a transitional measure, where at the time of implementation, the revised flat-rate allowance was lower than the one currently in effect, the allowances payable to currently eligible staff would be reduced by 50% of the difference between the old rate and the revised flat-rate. The transitional measures would be discontinued as from 1 January 2013. The Commission also reiterated its decision to maintain until the next biennial review, the amount of the global flat-rate allowance in local currency.

Turning to salaries, the Commission decided to recommend to the General Assembly that the current base/floor salary scale for the Professional and higher categories be increased by 1.37% on a no loss, no gain basis by commensurately reducing post adjustment. FICSA called for a real increase through restoring the net remuneration margin to the desirable 115 midpoint, to no avail. The margin methodology will be reviewed in 2011.

The working groups on the hardship and mobility scheme and on the review of the general salary survey methodologies will continue their work this winter.

A comprehensive assessment of issues and practices on inter-agency mobility and a performance management framework were presented to the Commission.

Disappointment was expressed that the gender balance review showed that the goals had not been met.