Government Staff Receive New Pay Scale After 11 Years, October Salary Paid With Arrears

Government officers and employees have begun receiving the benefits of a new national pay structure after a long 11 years. On Sunday morning (November 1), most of them received their October salary together with arrears of the increased pay for July, August and September.

According to Finance Division sources, most of the roughly 1.4 million government employees and 800,000 pensioners have received the additional money under the new structure. From after 10am on Sunday, messages confirming the deposit of the new salary began arriving on many employees' mobile phones.

However, the new salary was not added to the accounts of some officers and employees whose pay fixation was not completed within the set time. Those whose pay fixation was completed by October 25 received the increased salary in the first phase, and the rest are expected to receive it within the next few days.

Meanwhile, work on implementing the new pay structure for around 600,000 MPO-listed teachers is still ongoing, officials concerned said.

Some complications have appeared in the early phase of implementation. Dissatisfaction has arisen among government officers and employees particularly over seniority, grade order and the determination of house rent allowance.

Finance Division sources said employees of various offices, including the Finance Division, the Financial Institutions Division, the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology and the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, have applied to Finance Secretary Md Khayeruzzaman Majumder to resolve these problems.

Employees complain that inconsistencies can be seen between seniority and grade in fixing pay under the new structure, and that there are also questions over house rent allowance. As a result, some are not receiving the expected financial benefit, while others fear their total income may fall even after promotion. The division concerned is working to resolve the issues.

The government issued the gazette notification for the new national pay structure on September 17. Keeping the existing 20 grades, it decided to raise basic pay by up to 142 percent. Basic pay for grades one to 11 has been raised by 100 percent, and for grades 12 to 20 by between 115 and 142 percent.

Although the new pay structure is treated as effective from July 1, the full increase is not being paid at once. From July 1 to December 31, 2026, officers of grade nine and above are receiving 40 percent of the increased basic pay, while officers and employees of grades 10 to 20 are receiving 50 percent.

In the next phase, 75 percent of the increased basic pay will be paid from January 1 to June 30, 2027. From July 1, 2027, the new pay scale will be fully effective along with the annual increment.

Although basic pay has risen, other allowances are not changing yet. Until December 31, 2027, house rent and other allowances will be paid at the rates in force on June 30, 2026. The revised allowance rates will take effect from January 1, 2028.

The previous national pay structure was introduced in 2015. Under that structure, basic pay was raised by 95 percent at the top grade and 101 percent at the lowest grade.