8th Pay Commission: Who announces salary arrears - CPC or the Government?

As the 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC) has started its work, many central government employees are eagerly waiting for announcements regarding arrears.

However, they may need to wait longer as any such announcement may happen only after the 8th CPC submits its report or list of recommendations. This may take up to 16 months, given that the 8th CPC was notified in November 2025 with a clear directive on submitting its report within 18 months.

This means there is still a long wait for the final 8th CPC report. And even when the pay commission submits its final report, can it specify the payment of arrears on salary, or does this need to be done separately by the government?

Experience from the past two commissions shows that a CPC can specify the payment of arrears of salary in its report, including the effective date of its implementation. But it can also be done by the government.

For instance, the 6th Pay Commission had specifically mentioned in its report that the government will have to pay arrears with effect from January 1, 2006.

"The Commission has devised the revised scheme of pay bands and grade pay on the basis of price index as on 1/1/2006. Consequently, the revised structure of pay bands and grade pay being recommended in this Report would need to be implemented from 1/1/2006. The Government will have to pay arrears of salary on account of fixation of pay in the revised pay bands and grade pay retrospectively with effect from 1/1/2006."

The arrears of salary under 6th CPC were released in two instalments.

Arrears were also paid after the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission's recommendations. However, the 7th CPC's report did not specifically mention anything about paying arrears. Moreover, the impact of arrears on fiscal health of the country was less compared to the 6th CPC.

"The awards of the previous Pay Commissions, both V as well as the VI, involved payment of arrears. If awards are made with an arrears component then the cumulative impact of arrears would temporarily increase government expenditure on PAP, thereby causing an appreciable shock, albeit for a short time. This shock impacts both fiscal stability and the price level through demand and supply channels," the 7th Pay Commission said in its report.

"However, the Seventh CPC recommendations entail, at best, payments of marginal arrears and we do not therefore envisage any macroeconomic shock on this score," it added.

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