As has been mentioned earlier, the SSPP was initiated after several unsuccessful attempts at removing disparities and inequities that characterized the public sector pay administration system. The comprehensive 22-Level Ghana Universal Salary Structure (GUSS) introduced in 1999 failed to achieve its intended objectives partly because sections of the public services were allowed to opt out while its implementing agencies lacked legal backing. Government, therefore, sees the SSPP as a rational response to the challenges that plague the public service pay administration system.
Significant progress has been made so far in the implementation of the SSPP. Available statistics indicate that, as of June 2013, over 99 percent of eligible public service workers from 119 public institutions have been migrated onto the SSSS.The policy has resulted in significant increases in the average salaries of public sector employees. We are told that SNNIT data show that the average salary per worker in the country is now higher in the public sector compared to what obtains in the private sector.
Though there are some post-migration challenges, which the Fare Wages and Salaries Commission, together with the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, the Ministry of Finance, and the Organised Labour,are working around the clock to resolve, there is absolutely no doubtthat, the policy has positively affected living standards of public servants and their families.