Your public servant payslip hasn’t changed much in recent years. The index point, which serves as the basis for calculating the salary of all civil servants, is frozen for the third consecutive year in 2026. This situation has direct consequences on the daily lives of several million agents, and the short-term outlook does not suggest any massive recovery.
Differential allowance: the mechanism that masks wage disparity
Before discussing revaluation, it is essential to understand a mechanism that has become central to public remuneration. The minimum wage regularly increases, indexed to inflation. The index point, however, remains fixed at 4.92 euros.
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The result: the first levels of category C grids (and even some from category B) fall below the legal minimum wage. Since the administration cannot pay an agent below the minimum wage, it provides a supplement called differential allowance.
This supplement is capped at 65.28 euros gross per month. It is recalculated with each increase in the minimum wage, does not alter the basic indexed salary, and does not factor into retirement calculations. In practice, the agent receives the minimum wage, but their indexed grid remains unchanged. Understanding the evolution of salaries in the public service requires distinguishing between what constitutes a real gain in purchasing power and what is merely a floor adjustment.
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The CFDT-Ufetam estimates that more than one million public agents are affected by this system, including about 862,000 agents, with 306,000 in the state public service alone. This figure gives an idea of the scale of the phenomenon.
Index point frozen since 2023: why the situation is deteriorating
The index point was increased by 3.5% in 2022, then by 1.5% in 2023. Since then, nothing. The Minister Delegate for Public Service, David Amiel, confirmed that there would be no overall salary increase in 2026, citing budgetary constraints.
This prolonged freeze has a cumulative effect that is often underestimated. According to the CGT, if the index point had kept pace with inflation since 2000, it would not be at 4.92 euros but at 6.50 euros. The loss of purchasing power reaches 28.6% over this period.
The compression of grids, a concrete problem
Have you ever noticed that an agent with ten years of seniority can earn barely more than a new colleague? This is the compression of grids. When the bottom of the grid is mechanically raised to the level of the minimum wage by the differential allowance, the higher levels do not move.
An agent in category C at the fifth step of grade C1 finds themselves at the same pay level as an agent at the first step. The salary progression related to seniority becomes symbolic. David Amiel himself acknowledged that “the compression of grids is disheartening some agents who no longer see salary progression.”
Public service and private sector: a widening gap
INSEE indicates that average salaries in the private sector are about 200 euros higher than the average salary in the public service, representing a gap of 3.7%. This gap directly fuels recruitment difficulties in the public sector.
The problem does not only affect category C. Technical jobs, digital roles, and public health struggle to attract qualified profiles when the private sector offers significantly more competitive salaries. The attractiveness of the public service is declining due to the lack of salary leverage.
Persistent internal disparities
Inequalities also exist within the public service itself. Contract workers, who represent an increasing share of the workforce, are on average less well paid than tenured civil servants. The salary gaps between women and men also persist, even though the statutory structure should theoretically limit them.
Public servant salaries in 2026: concrete proposals on the table
In the absence of an increase in the index point, what measures remain possible? The government has outlined several avenues, most without a specific timeline.
- Improvement of access to housing for public agents, particularly in high-demand areas, through specific aid schemes. This indirect lever aims to compensate for the lack of direct salary increases.
- The deployment of generative artificial intelligence in certain administrations, presented as a means to enhance missions rather than salaries. The concrete impact on the payslip remains to be demonstrated.
- Targeted categorical negotiations, sector by sector, rather than a uniform increase. This approach allows for focusing resources on the most pressured jobs, but leaves the majority of agents aside.
Unions, for their part, are demanding a structural revaluation of the index point. The CGT insists that the value of the point should become the foundation of salary policy. Solidaires Fonction Publique denounces a political choice of austerity applied to public agents.
What this means for a category C agent
Let’s take a simple example. A category C agent at the start of their career earns the minimum wage, supplemented by the differential allowance. If they move up a step, their net salary hardly changes as long as the new step remains below the minimum wage. Their career progression exists on paper, not in their bank account.
This mechanism explains why some agents remain in their positions without visible salary motivation for several years. The only variable that affects their net remuneration is the revaluation of the minimum wage, over which they have no control.
By the end of 2026, unless there is a budgetary turnaround, the freeze on the index point is expected to continue. Public agents hoping for a recovery will likely have to rely on targeted measures (bonuses, housing allowances, access to housing) rather than a general increase in salaries. The gap between public salaries and the minimum wage will continue to narrow from the bottom, not from the top.