The government has issued a gazette notification on the National Pay Scale 2026 for public officials and employees, along with the formula for converting old salaries into the new structure, the new pay scale takes effect retroactively from July 1 this year.

All 20 existing grades have been retained, with starting basic pay raised between 100 and 142 percent depending on grade. Grades 1 through 11 will see their starting basic salaries doubled, while grades 12 through 20 will see increases ranging from 115 to 142 percent.

Under the new structure, the minimum basic salary for grade 20 stands at Tk 20,000. The maximum basic salary for grade 1, excluding the cabinet secretary, principal secretary, and senior secretaries — has been set at Tk 156,000.

Two-step fixation formula

According to the notification, an employee's new salary cannot be determined by grade alone, it also depends on the basic salary drawn as of June 30 under the National Pay Scale 2015, since two employees in the same grade may draw different salaries due to differing increments.

The notification lays out two methods of salary fixation:

Under the first method, if an employee was drawing the starting-step salary under the old scale, their salary in the new scale will also be fixed at the corresponding starting step. For instance, an employee in grade 16 drawing Tk 9,300,  the old scale's starting salary for that grade, will now draw Tk 21,900, the new scale's starting salary for grade 16.

Under the second method, if an employee's current basic salary exceeds the old scale's starting step, the starting salary must first be subtracted from the current basic salary.

The resulting difference is then added to the new scale's starting salary. If the sum matches an existing step in the new scale, salary is fixed at that step; if not, it is fixed at the next higher step.

For example, an employee drawing Tk 13,790 as of June 30, against an old starting salary of Tk 12,500, would see a difference of Tk 1,290. Adding this to the new scale's starting salary of Tk 25,000 yields Tk 26,290, a figure that does not correspond to any step in the new scale. The employee's salary will therefore be fixed at the next higher step, Tk 26,300.

The basic salaries of the cabinet secretary and the prime minister's principal secretary have been set at Tk 172,000, and that of senior secretaries at Tk 164,000. Grade-1 officials and equivalent posts also have fixed basic salaries, and the two fixation methods above do not apply to them.

For employees on deputation, salary fixation will be based on what they would have drawn had they remained in their parent office. Separate rules have been provided for employees on leave, under suspension, or on post-retirement leave.

Employees whose post-retirement leave ended on June 30, and those who retired on July 1, will not be eligible for salary fixation under the new pay scale, which takes effect from July 1.

The notification further states that a permanent employee who completes eight years in the same post without promotion and whose service record is satisfactory, will move to the next higher grade of that post's basic scale in the ninth year, though this will not be treated as a promotion.