BDF Officers to Receive Retroactive Pay Adjustment From 2019

Officers of the Belize Defence Force (BDF) are set to receive long-awaited salary adjustments, with changes taking effect retroactively from June 1, 2019. This follows a meeting held on March 26, between representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the Treasury Department, and the Ministry of National Defence and Border Security.  In a memo sent to the Treasury Department on Monday, June 16, the government has given the green light for the department to begin applying the correct 2019 pay scales for BDF Officers. Essentially, this means that the individual salaries of the soldiers will be reviewed and adjusted to align with the new salary scales implemented in 2019.  This has been a long-time issue as it was discovered that the previous administration had made multiple errors in applying the new salaries.  In some cases, soldiers were overpaid and in other instances they were underpaid.  This approval by the government will bring the soldiers’ salaries in conformity to the 2019 adjustments.  It was also the concern of the soldiers who were overpaid, that they would have to return the monies to the government.  The memo, confirmed, however, that the BDF officers will not be required to repay any overpayments they may have received due to previous incorrect application of the pay scales for the period from June 1, 2019, to June 30, 2025.  However, for officers who were overpaid, any retro-payments for increases in salaries due to increments, promotions, or upgrades will be used to offset the amount of overpayment received. This means that while no direct repayment is required, any future backpay will first address the previously overpaid amounts.  /////