7th Vs 8th Pay Commission

The Union Cabinet officially gave its approval for the constitution of the 8th Central Pay Commission. The new Commission will revise the pay structure for central government employees and pensioners. Let us know the basic differences between the 8th pay commission employees salary hike and that of the 7th pay commission.

According to the reports, the newly formed commission is expected to finalize its report and submit the recommendation by the end of 2025. Once the report is submitted, it will need the union Cabinet’s approval before implementation.

The pay commission is scheduled to come into effect from January 2026 onwards. However, the actual rollout could extend into FY27 depending on the timeline of approvals. The commission likely to propose an average hike of 30-34% in salaries and pensions. This increase is expected to cost the government an additional Rs 1.8 lakh crore.

A crucial element in this revision is the Fitment Factor, a multiplier used to calculate revised pay by adjusting for inflation, employees’ needs and the government’s financial position. The 8th Pay Commission’s recommendation will directly impact about 44 lakh central government employees and 68 lakh pensioners across ministries, departments and armed forces.

In total, this reportedly covers over 1 crore direct beneficiaries. While they represent only 0.7% of India’s 60 Crore labour force, and 9% of the formal sector.

However under the 7th pay commission, the Government has relaxed certain provisions under Rule 80A of CCS (Pension) Rules 1972 to avoid any problem while claiming. This move of the government will benefit millions of employees of the country covered under the 8th pay commission employees salary hike rules.

As per the prevailing rule, if the death certificate and bank details of the concerned employee along with Form No. 14 are given and the headquarters is not objected by these documents, then the family pension amount is released at the same time. However, there is no change in the rules for the issuance of gratuity in the event of death.

If the provisional pension of an employee has become more, then later this amount will be adjusted after deducting the amount from death gratuity.

For CAPF personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces, it has now been made a new rule that if they die within the period of service then the provisional pension will be paid immediately to their dependents and relatives. In this case, one will not have to wait for the report of the final operational casualty.

After the new rules, the family members of the employee will get many facilities. Regardless of the length of service period of an employee, this will no longer be an obstacle in the payment of pension. It is no longer mandatory to check service for the release of pension amount. Till now, service has been seen only in cases of graduation.

If some due comes out on an employee then that amount will be deducted from the death gratuity. The payment of the sanctioned pension will be initially released till 6 months from the date of death of the employee. With the advice of Pay and Accounts Department and approval of HOD, the duration of such interim family pension will not be extended for more than 6 months at a time.