Bangladesh pay scale rollout faces delays as employees challenge salary and promotion calculations

Higher pay is due on 1 November, but some employees must wait

Bangladesh plans to pay government employees under its National Pay Structure 2026 on 1 November, including four months of arrears. Yet unresolved salary calculations and problems with the government's payroll system mean some employees will receive their old salaries first and the additional money later, according to Finance Division officials.

The difficulties reach beyond delayed paperwork. Calculations submitted by employees show a Grade 12 worker receiving a higher basic salary than a Grade 11 colleague, even though Grade 11 has a higher starting salary. Another example shows basic pay and house rent allowance together falling by Tk600 a month after a move to a higher grade.

The pay determination exercise covers groups comprising 1.4 million government employees, 800,000 pensioners and 600,000 teachers under the Monthly Pay Order scheme. That is 2.8 million people across the three groups. MPO teachers receive government support towards their salaries at participating educational institutions.

Employees have asked the Finance Division to review the rules governing salary placement, seniority, eligibility for higher grades and housing payments. Applications remain unresolved from several ministries and divisions, including offices within the finance ministry itself.

A separate Finance Division directive dated 19 October keeps house rent, medical and other allowances at the rates effective on 30 June until further orders. Employees therefore face two different schedules: an immediate, phased increase in basic pay and a later change to allowances.

For households expecting a larger payment in November, the practical issue is whether their salary calculation and payroll bill can be approved in time. The government has not announced how many people will miss the initial increased payment or a date for clearing their delayed arrears.

How the rollout reached the payroll deadline

The cabinet approved the National Pay Scale and Armed Forces Pay Scale 2026 at its meeting on 31 August. The notification introducing the new structure followed on 17 September, with pay determination beginning through iBAS++ on 5 October.

Pay determination, often called pay fixation, means calculating where an existing employee belongs in the new salary structure. The calculation takes account of the employee's grade, previous basic salary and applicable salary steps. An office must then prepare and submit the salary bill before payment can proceed.

• 1 July 2026: Effective date for salary placement and the first phase, providing 50% of the calculated benefit.
• 31 August 2026: Cabinet approval of the national and armed forces pay scales.
• 17 September 2026: Notification introducing the new pay structure.
• 5 October 2026: Employees begin submitting pay determination information through iBAS++.
• 19 October 2026: Finance Division directs that existing allowance rates continue until further orders.
• 20 October 2026: Scheduled deadline for completing pay determination.
• 26 October 2026: Employees continue to raise concerns about access to salary bill submission functions.
• 1 November 2026: Planned payment of increased salaries with four months of arrears.
• 1 January 2027 and 1 July 2027: Benefits rise to 75% and then 100% under the phased schedule.
• 1 January 2028: Scheduled introduction of revised allowances.

The 19 October implementation account places the second phase on 1 January 2027; an earlier account of the cabinet plan placed that step in December. The later schedule divides implementation across the 2026–27 and 2027–28 fiscal years.

Why a lower grade can produce a higher salary

Grade 11 starts at Tk25,000 under the new structure, while Grade 12 starts at Tk24,300. The higher grade therefore begins with a Tk700 advantage. Employees say the method used to carry previous salary increases into the new structure can reverse that order.

In their Grade 11 example, the employee started at Tk12,500 under the 2015 scale and reached Tk23,660 by 30 June 2026. The accumulated increase was Tk11,160. Adding that amount to the new starting salary of Tk25,000 produces Tk36,160. Because that amount is not a salary step in the new scale, placement moves to the next step, Tk37,000.

The Grade 12 employee started at Tk11,300 and reached Tk23,580 by the same date, an accumulated increase of Tk12,280. Adding that to the new starting salary of Tk24,300 produces Tk36,580. Placement at the next available step gives Tk37,700.

Before conversion, the Grade 11 employee earned Tk80 more in basic pay: Tk23,660 against Tk23,580. After the illustrated conversion, the Grade 12 employee receives Tk700 more: Tk37,700 against Tk37,000. The larger accumulated increase and the different salary steps together reverse their positions.

The gap persists through the payment phases

Employees' calculations also show the Grade 12 advantage continuing as the government introduces the benefits in stages. Paragraphs 5 and 9 of the notification provide for salary placement as of 1 July 2026 and phased benefits based on the difference between existing and newly determined pay.

The 50%, 75% and 100% figures refer to the calculated benefit being introduced, rather than to a worker receiving half, three quarters or all of their entire salary.

• From 1 July 2026, at the 50% stage, employees calculate Grade 11 basic pay at Tk31,230 and Grade 12 at Tk31,590, a Tk360 advantage for Grade 12.
• From 1 January 2027, at the 75% stage, the figures are Tk35,015 and Tk35,595, leaving Grade 12 ahead by Tk580.
• From 1 July 2027, at the 100% stage, the figures are Tk40,800 and Tk41,600, a gap of Tk800.

Those figures are employee projections for the successive payment dates. Their complaint is that spreading the increase over time leaves the reversal in place, with the gap growing from Tk360 in the first phase to Tk800 in the final phase.

How a promotion could reduce monthly income

A second employee calculation concerns a worker moving from Grade 10 to Grade 9 through promotion or a higher grade benefit. Basic salary rises from Tk49,700 to Tk51,000, an increase of Tk1,300.

At Grade 10, a house rent allowance of 50% produces Tk24,850. At Grade 9, the illustrated rate falls to 45%, producing Tk22,950 despite the higher basic salary. Housing support therefore drops by Tk1,900.

Basic pay and house rent together fall from Tk74,550 to Tk73,950. The Tk1,900 reduction in housing support outweighs the Tk1,300 salary increase, leaving the employee Tk600 behind each month on those two components.

The timing of allowance changes matters here. The 19 October directive keeps allowances at the rates effective on 30 June until further orders, while revised allowances are scheduled for January 2028. Employees are asking for the interaction between grade changes, basic salaries and allowance rates to be settled during implementation.

The wider housing plan lowers the percentage of basic pay used for rent support. In Dhaka, the range moves from 50–65% to 40–60%. In other city corporation areas and Savar, it moves from 40–55% to 30–50%; elsewhere, from 35–50% to 25–45%. Because basic salaries rise, the amount received in taka depends on both the applicable percentage and the new salary.

Eight years or ten: the seniority dispute

The new higher grade rules shorten the first qualifying period from 10 years to eight years for an employee who stays in the same grade. The six year waiting period for a second move remains.

A higher grade benefit allows an eligible employee to move to a better salary grade while remaining without a promotion. Employees in posts with a route to promotion can receive this benefit no more than twice during their careers.

Employees say the transition creates a problem for people who completed either eight years or 10 years of service by 30 June 2026. Both groups may qualify for their first higher grade from 1 July, bringing workers with different lengths of service into the same change at the same time.

Their calculations suggest that a junior employee could receive two higher grade moves after 14 years, while a senior employee following the previous timing could require 16 years. Salary step placement could also leave some junior workers earning more than senior colleagues.

Posts officially designated as blocked, meaning they have no provision for promotion, have a different route. The planned rules allow three higher grade moves: the first after eight years, the second after another six years and the third after a further eight years. Employees want clear transition instructions so offices apply these service periods consistently.

Software and staffing problems hold up bills

iBAS++ is the government's integrated financial management system. It handles budgeting, salary determination, bill preparation, payments and records of public income and expenditure. Completing a salary calculation is one part of a longer payment process within that system.

Employees have complained about difficulties determining pay and accessing or using salary bill submission functions. Concerns continuing on 26 October included when offices could submit bills and how quickly payments would follow. Offices must prepare, check and submit bills before approval and the release of money to employees' bank accounts.

Employees also allege that experienced personnel were not sufficiently involved in the exercise. An unnamed Finance Division official attributed the difficulties to gaps in knowledge among people preparing and implementing the notification and said experienced advisers were being consulted.

Finance Secretary Md Khairuzzaman Mazumder declined to comment. Unresolved applications involve the Finance Division, Financial Institutions Division, Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, and Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism.

What else changes in the pay package?

The new scale sets minimum basic pay at Tk20,000 and maximum basic pay at Tk156,000. Annual salary increases become smaller in percentage terms for several senior grades, replacing the uniform 5% rate under the 2015 scale.

Grades 20 through 6 retain a 5% annual increment. Grade 5 receives 4%, Grades 4 and 3 receive 3.5%, and Grade 2 receives 2.75%. The armed forces plan follows the same pattern, with 5% for captains and equivalent ranks or below, falling to 2.75% for brigadier generals and equivalent ranks.

The planned medical allowance rises from Tk1,500 a month for employees to Tk3,000 for those aged up to 50 and Tk4,000 for those over 50 through 60. Pensioners over 60 through 70 are scheduled to receive Tk5,000, and those over 70 Tk6,000. The existing arrangement gives pensioners over 65 Tk2,500.

Mobile phone support is planned for all grades: Tk500 a month for Grades 1–5 and Tk150 for Grades 6–20. The senior grades currently receive Tk1,000 or Tk1,500, while other grades receive none. Planned transport, tiffin and washing allowances rise from Tk300, Tk200 and Tk100 to Tk600, Tk500 and Tk300 respectively.

Other changes include reducing the Bangla New Year allowance from 20% to 15% of basic pay and ending the special incentive introduced in 2024, initially at 5% and later increased to 10%, when the new structure takes effect. Education assistance, festival allowance and several other benefits retain their existing rates or amounts.

The cost and the decisions employees need

Full implementation is projected to cost Tk2.37 trillion, equivalent to Tk2.37 lakh crore. The additional expenditure over three years is estimated at Tk1.0538 trillion, or Tk105,380 crore, divided into Tk37,372 crore in 2026, Tk44,838 crore in 2027 and Tk23,170 crore in 2028.

Finance Division officials have said the budget contains the allocation needed for increased payments. Employees' immediate demands concern the rules and administrative work required to turn that allocation into correctly calculated salaries.

Employees are seeking a review of salary placement, the order of grades, qualifying service for higher grade benefits and housing calculations. Resolving those matters would allow offices to complete outstanding cases and give workers a firmer basis for checking their pay.

The November payment plan provides a fallback for unfinished cases: salaries under the old structure, followed by arrears later. For the employees affected, that means waiting longer for an increase effective from July while their offices work through the calculation and billing process.

Key Points

• Increased salaries and four months of arrears are planned for 1 November; unfinished cases will receive old salaries first.
• The groups covered comprise 1.4 million employees, 800,000 pensioners and 600,000 MPO teachers.
• Employee calculations show a Grade 12 salary exceeding Grade 11 pay after conversion.
• A promotion example produces a Tk600 monthly reduction in basic salary and house rent combined.
• Existing allowance rates continue until further orders, with revised allowances scheduled for January 2028.
• Employees want clearer rules on seniority, higher grades and salary placement, alongside fixes to payroll processing.