Government employees begin receiving new pay. When will arrears be paid?

Government employees have begun receiving salaries under the new National Pay Scale, but payments remain uneven.

Some are yet to receive revised salaries, while others have received October’s pay but are still waiting for arrears for July, August and September.

Officials from the Finance Division, commerce ministry and National Board of Revenue said the previous three months’ dues would be paid manually around Nov 3 or 4.

“I have received October’s salary, but my wife has not yet. We have been told the earlier dues will be paid manually, possibly on the 3rd or 4th [of Novemeber],” a commerce ministry official told bdnews24.com.

He said no one in the ministry had received the arrears.

An NBR official said he had received October’s salary and understood that earlier dues would be paid manually.

A finance ministry official on leave said no payment notification had reached him.

A Finance Division official said employees whose pay fixation was completed by Oct 25 received the additional amount on Sunday.

The process covers 1.4 million government employees and 800,000 pensioners; payments to the rest are expected within days.

Work is also under way to include 600,000 MPO-listed teachers.

Gazetted on Sept 19, the new scale raises pay by 142 percent at the lowest grade and 100 percent at the highest.

From July to December, grades 9 and above will receive 40 percent of the increase, while grades 10-20 will get 50 percent.

The rates will rise to 70 and 75 percent in January-June 2027.

Full increases take effect on July 1, 2027. Allowances and other benefits will follow the old scale until Jan 1, 2028.