8th Pay Commission Arrears: As the new year kicks off, central employees are now turning their attention to the Eighth Pay Commission’s recommendations. It looks like putting these new pay rules into action might take over a year and a half. Because of this delay, many employees are starting to figure out how much back pay they’ll get once the new pay structure is in place. Let’s dive into the details.
What’s going on?
In October 2025, the Union Cabinet gave the green light for the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the 8th Pay Commission. This means the commission can look into salaries and suggest pay hikes. However, the government hasn’t revealed when the new pay commission will actually kick off. In India, pay commissions usually happen every decade. The 7th Pay Commission started on January 1, 2016.
A lot of employees were hoping the 8th Pay Commission would start on January 1, 2026. So far, that date is just a hope and not an official announcement. The recommendations from the commission are expected to help around 5 million central government employees, including those in the defense sector, along with about 6.9 million pensioners.
Why are employees discussing arrears?
Arrears refer to the extra cash paid when a salary hike is postponed but then applied retroactively. If a salary increase is delayed for several months or even years, employees will receive their new salary along with the arrears for the previous months. The big question now is how much back pay a government employee can expect? The longer it takes to implement the Pay Commission, the more arrears they will accumulate.
For example, suppose your old salary was Rs 40,000 per month and your new salary has been increased to Rs 50,000 per month. Now, suppose your new salary is calculated from January 2026, but the payment is being made from May 2027. This is a delay of 15 months. Therefore, the arrears will be calculated as follows:
Rs 10,000 x 15 months = Rs 1,50,000.
In this particular case, the employee can get Rs 1.5 lakh as arrears.
