Salary increases will take effect in the next payroll for approximately 40,000 civil servants who have previously had their pay “frozen” due to personal differentials.
A circular issued by the Deputy Minister of Finance, Thanos Petralias, clears the way for these salary adjustments with retroactive effect from June 1, 2024. The total cost of this initiative is projected at 12 million euros, benefiting the eligible employees equally.
The circular specifies that personal differences can only be reduced through offsets related to increases in base salaries resulting from maturity, category changes, qualification recognitions, or other internal advancements. They cannot be offset against increases linked to the alignment of public sector salaries with the private sector minimum wage.
The offset mechanism indicates that the personal difference can be reduced by either 50% of the increase in base salary or the amount exceeding €300, whichever is smaller. If the personal difference is €300 or less, there will be no change.
The General Accounting Office has provided the following examples:
Example 1 – Personal difference under €300: In this case, if the personal difference is below €300, it remains unchanged regardless of base salary increases. For instance, a PE employee in Salary Grade 14 with a basic salary of €1,959 and a personal allowance of €250 is promoted to Grade 15 with a new salary of €2,209. The personal difference stays at €250, resulting in a total salary increase from €2,209 to €2,268.
Case 2 – Personal difference of €300: If the personal difference is exactly €300, it too remains unaltered, no matter the base salary increase. For an employee transitioning from a base salary of €1,959 with a personal difference of €300 to MK 15 with a new salary of €2,018, their salary rises from €2,259 to €2,318, without any change in personal difference.
Case 3 – Personal difference exceeding €300: In this scenario, offsets apply. If the difference exceeds €300, the excess can be reduced by up to 50% of the increase in the base salary. In the first sub-case, an employee with a personal difference of €400 and a basic salary increase of €59 would have an offset of €29.50 since this is less than the excess amount of €100. The new personal difference would be €370.50, and their salary would increase from €2,359 to €2,388.50.
In the second sub-case, an employee with a personal difference of €310 and a €59 salary increase would fully offset the €10 excess, lowering the new personal difference to €300 and increasing the salary from €2,269 to €2,318. In the third sub-case, a TE employee with a base salary of €1,852 transitioning to PE with a new salary of €1,959, sees an increase of €107. Their personal difference of €360, which exceeds €300 by €60, would have only half of the salary increase offset (i.e., €53.50). Consequently, the new personal difference would be €306.50, with the salary rising from €2,212 to €2,265.50.
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