Personal pay

Personal pay is additional pay under FR 9(23) that saves a government servant from a loss of substantive pay. How it is granted and absorbed in increments.

Updated 16 July 2026

Personal pay is additional pay granted to a government servant, under the Fundamental Rules, to save them from a loss of substantive pay. It is one of the oldest protective devices in the pay code, and it survives into the pay matrix era as the standard way of bridging the gap when an employee’s pay would otherwise fall. Its defining feature is that it is temporary: unless the sanctioning authority orders otherwise, personal pay is progressively absorbed as the employee’s pay rises, until it disappears. This article explains the definition, the absorption rule, the main modern use on a transfer to a lower post, the status of personal pay as an exception to the general limit on pay, and the tight control on grants made on personal considerations.

The definition: FR 9(23)

Personal pay is defined in Fundamental Rule 9(23) as additional pay granted to a government servant:

(a) to save them from a loss of substantive pay in respect of a permanent post, other than a tenure post, due to a revision of pay or to any reduction of such substantive pay otherwise than as a disciplinary measure; or
(b) in exceptional circumstances, on other personal considerations.

The first limb is the protective one, and it accounts for almost all personal pay in practice. The second limb is a narrow residual power. Personal pay is also included in the Fundamental Rules’ definition of pay in FR 9(21), so it counts as pay for the purposes that depend on pay, although it is personal to the employee and not attached to the post.

The defining feature: absorption

What sets personal pay apart from an ordinary addition to pay is that it does not last. Except where the authority sanctioning it orders otherwise, personal pay is reduced by any amount by which the recipient’s pay is increased, and it ceases as soon as the pay is increased by an amount equal to the personal pay. In other words, every future increment or increase eats into the personal pay until it is fully absorbed and disappears.

This makes personal pay a bridge, not a permanent element. It holds the employee’s total pay up at the moment of a loss, and then quietly shrinks as the normal pay progression catches up, so that the protection costs the exchequer only for as long as the gap actually exists.

The main modern use: transfer to a lower post

By far the commonest way personal pay arises today is on a transfer to a lower post at the employee’s own request. Where a government servant is transferred to a lower post under FR 15(a), the pay is fixed under FR 22(I)(a)(3) at the stage in the lower level equal to the pay drawn in the higher level. If there is no equal stage, the pay is fixed at the next stage below, and the difference is granted as personal pay, to be absorbed in future increments. The whole is subject to the ceiling that the pay cannot exceed the maximum of the lower level.

So personal pay here is the tool that gives effect to the equal-stage principle when the lower level’s cells do not line up exactly with the higher pay. It is the nearest thing the own-request transfer has to pay protection, and it is discussed in the downward direction in the treatments of Fundamental Rule 22 and pay fixation on reversion. A related safeguard is that on a later promotion the employee draws no promotional increment until their pay surpasses the level from which they stepped down, so that the protection is not turned into a double benefit.

An exception to the limit on pay

Personal pay under the first limb is a recognised exception to FR 19, the general rule that the pay of a government servant shall not be increased so as to exceed the pay sanctioned for the post without the sanction of an authority competent to create a post in the same cadre. Because personal pay of this kind may lawfully take the total pay above the maximum otherwise sanctioned for the post, it can do its protective job even where the pay would otherwise be capped. This exception applies only to personal pay granted to save substantive pay, not to grants on personal considerations.

The exceptional-circumstances limb

The second limb, clause (b), allowing personal pay in exceptional circumstances on other personal considerations, is deliberately narrow and tightly controlled. Every such proposal must be referred to the Government in the Finance Department through the administrative department, and no case is entertained unless it is of an entirely exceptional character. The effect is that the exceptional-circumstances power is used very sparingly, and an employee should not expect personal pay under this limb as a matter of course; the protective first limb is where personal pay almost always comes from.

Personal pay on reorganisation and rule changes

The protective limb also does its work when a department is reorganised or a rule changes in a way that would otherwise cut an employee’s substantive pay. Because personal pay is designed precisely to save a loss of substantive pay on a revision or a non-disciplinary reduction, it is the natural instrument for holding pay steady across a reorganisation, an amalgamation of posts, or a change in the pay structure, again on the footing that it will be absorbed as pay later rises. In each of these the character is the same: a personal, temporary addition that protects the individual and then fades.

In force today

Personal pay is additional pay under FR 9(23) granted to save a government servant from a loss of substantive pay on a revision of pay or a non-disciplinary reduction, or in exceptional circumstances on other personal considerations. It counts as pay under FR 9(21) but is personal to the employee, and its defining feature is that, unless the sanctioning authority orders otherwise, it is absorbed by future pay increases and ceases when the pay rises by an amount equal to it. Its main modern use is on a transfer to a lower post at own request under FR 22(I)(a)(3), where the difference below the equal stage is granted as personal pay to be absorbed in increments, subject to the ceiling of the lower level. Personal pay under the protective limb is an exception to the FR 19 limit on pay, and grants on personal considerations under clause (b) are referred to Government and allowed only in entirely exceptional cases.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is personal pay?

Personal pay is additional pay granted to a government servant, under Fundamental Rule 9(23), to save them from a loss of substantive pay caused by a revision of pay or a reduction of pay other than as a disciplinary measure, or in exceptional circumstances on other personal considerations. It is personal to the individual rather than attached to the post, it counts as pay under the Fundamental Rules, and its defining feature is that it is gradually absorbed as the employee’s pay rises.

How is personal pay absorbed?

Unless the authority sanctioning it orders otherwise, personal pay is reduced by any amount by which the employee’s pay is increased, and it ceases altogether as soon as the pay is increased by an amount equal to the personal pay. So each future increment or increase eats into the personal pay until it disappears. This absorption is what makes personal pay a temporary bridge rather than a permanent addition to pay.

When is personal pay granted on transfer to a lower post?

When a government servant is transferred to a lower post at their own request under FR 15(a), the pay is fixed under FR 22(I)(a)(3) at the stage in the lower level equal to the pay drawn in the higher level. If there is no equal stage, the pay is fixed at the next stage below and the difference is granted as personal pay, to be absorbed in future increments, subject to the ceiling that the pay cannot exceed the maximum of the lower level. This is the most common modern use of personal pay.

Is personal pay part of pay?

Yes. Personal pay is included in the definition of pay in the Fundamental Rules, so it is treated as pay for the purposes that turn on pay, unless a specific rule provides otherwise. It is, however, personal to the employee and not attached to the post, and it is temporary because it is absorbed in future pay increases, so it behaves differently from the pay of the post even though it counts as pay.

Can personal pay take pay above the maximum of the post?

Yes, in one case. Personal pay granted under clause (a) of FR 9(23), to save an employee from a loss of substantive pay, is a recognised exception to FR 19, the rule that pay shall not be increased beyond the pay sanctioned for the post without special sanction. So personal pay of this kind may lawfully take the total pay above the maximum otherwise sanctioned for the post, which is precisely how it protects the employee from a loss.

When is personal pay granted in exceptional circumstances?

The second limb of FR 9(23), clause (b), allows personal pay in exceptional circumstances on other personal considerations, but this is tightly controlled. Such cases must be referred to the Government in the Finance Department through the administrative department, and no case is entertained unless it is of an entirely exceptional character. In practice, almost all personal pay arises under the first limb, to protect substantive pay, rather than under this exceptional-circumstances limb.

What is the difference between personal pay and special pay?

Personal pay is additional pay granted to protect an individual from a loss of substantive pay, personal to the employee and absorbed over time. Special pay, defined separately in the Fundamental Rules, is additional pay attached to a post in consideration of the specially arduous nature of the duties or a specific addition to the work or responsibility. Special pay goes with the post and its duties, while personal pay goes with the person and their protection, so the two serve quite different purposes despite both being additions to pay.

External references

References

Fundamental Rule 9(23): definition of personal pay as additional pay granted to a government servant to save them from a loss of substantive pay in respect of a permanent post other than a tenure post due to a revision of pay or a reduction of such substantive pay otherwise than as a disciplinary measure, or in exceptional circumstances on other personal considerations.
Fundamental Rules, absorption of personal pay: except where the sanctioning authority orders otherwise, personal pay is reduced by any amount by which the recipient’s pay is increased and ceases as soon as the pay is increased by an amount equal to the personal pay.
Fundamental Rule 9(21): inclusion of personal pay within the definition of pay.
Fundamental Rule 22(I)(a)(3), read with FR 15(a): fixation of pay on transfer to a lower post at own request, at the equal stage in the lower level or, where none, the next stage below with the difference granted as personal pay to be absorbed in future increments, subject to the ceiling of the maximum of the lower level.
Fundamental Rule 19: the general limit that pay shall not be increased beyond the pay sanctioned for the post, with personal pay under FR 9(23)(a) as a recognised exception, and the requirement that grants under FR 9(23)(b) be referred to the Government and allowed only in entirely exceptional cases.