The monthly ‘basic salary’ for Contract Agents in function group IV (FG IV) in the European Commission ranges from EUR 3624 for grade 13 step 1 to EUR 7602 for grade 18 step 7. The amount of basic salary depends on which grade (13-18) and step in each grade (1-7) the staff member finds herself in.
Basic salary vs. full remuneration package
This article covers the topic of salary for Contract Agents in Function Group IV (FGIV) (‘agent contractuel’ in French) in the European Commission. The information about FGIV salary also directly applies to staff of the European Parliament, European Council, EU agencies and all other EU institutions.
RELATED ARTICLESON CONTRACT AGENT SALARIES:
* Salary of Contract Agents FGI
* Salary of Contract Agents FGII
* Salary of Contract Agents FGIII
ARTICLES ON ADMINISTRATORS AND ASSISTANTS SALARIES:
* Salary of Assistants AST4
* Salary of Administrators AD5
* Salary of Administrators AD7
When you start to work for an EU institution, you will be asked to prove your previous work experience. Depending on the length of it, you will be assigned a particular grade within function group III, which in turn will directly impact your starting basic salary. If you have up to five years of work experience, you’ll be placed in grade 13. Up to 17 years of work experience will place you in grade 14. More than 17 years of experience will place you in grade 16. For the starting basic salary in each of grades 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 see the table below.
| Qualifications and professional experience | Grade | Starting basic salary |
|---|---|---|
| less than 5 years | 13 | EUR 3624 |
| between 5 years and 17 years | 14 | EUR 4100 |
| Reached by reclassification or promotion | 15 | EUR 4639 |
| 17 years or more | 16 | EUR 5248 |
| Reached by reclassification or promotion | 17 | EUR 5938 |
| Reached by reclassification or promotion | 18 | EUR 6719 |
Important to note – if you start working for an EU institution with 4,9 and 16,9 years of experience, you will not be automatically ‘reclassified’ to a higher grade once you reach the 5 or 17 years threshold. Grades 15, 17 and 18 can only be reached in two ways. Firstly, by being employed at the same institution for a longer period through an exercise called ‘reclassification‘, which in practice means automatic advancement through the European Commission salary scales by one step every two years. Secondly, you can undergo ‘promotion‘ based on good professional performance. A ‘promotion’ allows you to skip several steps or even a grade at once. If you want to be promoted, be sure to not only work hard, but also make your management notice your efforts throughout the year and during the annual ‘appraisal exercise’.
Complete remuneration package
Knowing the ‘basic monthly salary’ in most cases does not tell you much about your final take-home pay. There are two reasons for this.
Firstly, the basic salary can make up anything between ~85% and 130%+ of your total remuneration package depending on whether you entitled to the various allowances. This is especially so if you have children or/and are an expat.
Secondly, the country you are employed in has a significant impact on your total salary due to the ‘Correction Coefficient‘. Brussels is used as reference and you get the nominal amount quoted in the Staff Regulations and above. If you work for an EU agency in Scandinavia, your salary and allowances will upped by 18-31% to compensate for higher living costs. Conversely, if you will work for the EU in Bulgaria, you will get only 55% of what your colleague in Brussels gets.
Contract agents’ remuneration by family and residence status
Below is a sample calculation of an FG IV (grade 13, step 1) salary for four common scenarios for a Contract Agent employed in Brussels, Belgium. If you are in a higher grade, you can do a rough estimate of your salary by adding the difference between basic pay in grade 13 and your actual grade.
| Situation 1 | Situation 2 | Situation 3 | Situation 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single Belgian national with no children | Married Belgian national with two children | Single Italian national with no children | Married Italian national with two children |
| Contract Agent FG IV |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Pay | 3624 | 3624 | 3624 | 3624 |
| Household allowance | 0 | 269 | 0 | 269 |
| Dependent child allowance | 0 | 858 | 0 | 858 |
| Expatriation allowance 16% | 0 | 0 | 760 | 760 |
| Pension contribution 10.1% | -366 | -366 | -366 | -366 |
| Sickness insurance contribution | -62 | -62 | -62 | -62 |
| Accident insurance contribution | -4 | -4 | -4 | -4 |
| Tax | -77 | -77 | -77 | -77 |
| Unemployment Insurance contribution | -21 | -21 | -21 | -21 |
| TOTAL REMUNERATION | 3094 | 4214 | 3847 | 4974 |
N.B. Please treat the above values only as indicative, because only your EU institution can do a precise calculation based on your individual circumstances and the full set of EU rules.
On top of the above, children would either be guaranteed a place in the European School, or a single Education Allowance per child. The expat family would also get around 1000 EUR annually per family member as a Travel Grant considering the distance to Rome.
Hi and thanks for reading the article!
If you found it useful, please consider to
European Commission 2022 salary scale for Contract agents FGIV
| Function group | Grade | Step 1 | Step 2 | Step 3 | Step 4 | Step 5 | Step 6 | Step 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IV | 18 | 6718,94 | 6858,66 | 7001,28 | 7146,88 | 7295,52 | 7447,23 | 7602,09 |
| IV | 17 | 5938,38 | 6061,86 | 6187,92 | 6316,61 | 6447,97 | 6582,05 | 6718,94 |
| IV | 16 | 5248,48 | 5357,62 | 5469,04 | 5582,77 | 5698,89 | 5817,40 | 5938,38 |
| IV | 15 | 4638,73 | 4735,20 | 4833,68 | 4934,20 | 5036,82 | 5141,55 | 5248,48 |
| IV | 14 | 4099,84 | 4185,10 | 4272,14 | 4360,98 | 4451,70 | 4544,23 | 4638,73 |
| IV | 13 | 3623,54 | 3698,90 | 3775,81 | 3854,35 | 3934,49 | 4016,32 | 4099,84 |
Impact of Correction Coefficient on FGII basic pay
The below table shows you the actual Contract Agent FGII basic pay according to the location of your institution. You can read a dedicated article about the Correction Coefficient.
| Location | EU institution | Correction Coefficient | Adjusted Basic Pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amsterdam, Netherlands | EMA | 111.4 | 4037 |
| Barcelona, Spain | F4E | 96.3 | 3490 |
| Berlin, Germany | EU Delegation | 101.4 | 3675 |
| Bilbao, Spain | EU-OSHA | 96.3 | 3490 |
| Bratislava, Slovakia | ELA | 79.9 | 2896 |
| Brussels, Belgium | European Commission, European Parliament, European Council, EDA, SRB | 100 | 3624 |
| Bucharest, Romania | ECITRCC | 68.5 | 2482 |
| Budapest, Hungary | CEPOL, EIT | 76.1 | 2758 |
| Cologne, Germany | EASA | 96.9 | 3512 |
| Copenhagen, Denmark | EEA | 134.2 | 4863 |
| Dublin, Ireland | EUROFOUND | 133.6 | 4842 |
| Frankfurt am Main, Germany | ECB, EIOPA | 96.9 | 3512 |
| Hague, Netherlands | Eurojust, Europol | 111.4 | 4037 |
| Helsinki, Finland | ECHA | 118.6 | 4298 |
| Heraklion, Greece | ENISA | 85.2 | 3088 |
| Karlsruhe, Germany | JRC | 96.9 | 3512 |
| Lefkosia, Cyprus | EU Delegation | 82.2 | 2979 |
| Lisbon, Portugal | EMSA, EMCDDA | 91.4 | 3312 |
| Ljubljana, Slovenia | ACER | 84.9 | 3077 |
| Luxembourg City, Luxembourg | European Commission, Eurostat, CDT, Court of Auditors | 100 | 3624 |
| Madrid, Spain | EU Delegation | 96.3 | 3490 |
| Munich, Germany | n/a | 113.4 | 4110 |
| Parma, Italy | EFSA | 91.2 | 3305 |
| Paris, France | EBA, ESMA | 119.9 | 4345 |
| Prague, Czechia | EGSA | 88.1 | 3193 |
| Riga, Latvia | BEREC | 80 | 2899 |
| Rome, Italy | EU Delegation | 95.2 | 3450 |
| Sofia, Bulgaria | EU Delegation | 61.7 | 2236 |
| Stockholm, Sweden | ECDC | 130.3 | 4722 |
| Tallinn, Estonia | eu-LISA | 86.3 | 3128 |
| Thessaloniki, Greece | CEDEFOP | 85.2 | 3088 |
| Turin, Italy | ETF | 91.2 | 3305 |
| Valletta, Malta | EUAA | 94 | 3407 |
| Varese, Italy | n/a | 91.2 | 3305 |
| Valenciennes and Lille, France | ERA | 119.9 | 4345 |
| Vienna, Austria | FRA | 109.6 | 3972 |
| Vigo, Spain | EFCA | 96.3 | 3490 |
| Vilnius, Lithuania | EIGE | 80.1 | 2903 |
| Warsaw, Poland | Frontex | 70.6 | 2559 |
| Zagreb, Croatia | EU Delegation | 78.3 | 2838 |
Take into account that your allowances will also be adjusted by the Correction Coefficient. If you will work not in Brussels, but in another EU location, you should multiply the grand total values in the “scenarios table” to get the actual approximate figure.
Function Groups and corresponding types of duties
The below table presents an overview of what kind of tasks each function group of contract agents is expected to carry out. Note the wording “under the supervision of officials or temporary staff”. In practice, the situation most often is different. Very often there is little difference between the tasks FG III and FG IV carry out, it’s a little bit of a lottery in which function group your position happens to fall. Also, once you start working in these two grades, you might soon notice that the tasks you carry out differ little from what temporary agents AD5 and AD6 perform. The main reason for this situation is the aftermath of the 2008-9 economic crisis when EU Member States exerted pressure on the European Commission to decrease costs. Someone came up with the “clever” solution to administratively “devolve” many positions and tasks from AD to CA positions, without much change to the substance of the tasks performed.
| Function group | Grades | Duties |
| IV | 13 to 18 | Administrative, advisory, linguistic and equivalent technical tasks, performed under the supervision of officials or temporary staff. |
| III | 8 to 12 | Executive tasks, drafting, accountancy and other equivalent technical tasks, performed under the supervision of officials or temporary staff. |
| II | 4 to 7 | Clerical and secretarial tasks, office management and other equivalent tasks, performed under the supervision of officials or temporary staff. |
| I | 1 to 3 | Manual and administrative support service tasks, performed under the supervision of officials or temporary staff. |
Allowances and other benefits for EU institutions staff
Several allowances and other benefits can quite significantly boost an EU official’s income. This largely depends on whether the person is an expat and has a spouse and/or children. When considering a job at an EU institution, people too often do not take these benefits into account. Important – these benefits are available to Administrators in grades AD 5-16, Assistants in grades AST 1-11, Secretaries and Clerks in grades AST/SC 1-6, and Contract Agents in grades FG I-IV.
- Travel costs on taking up duties
- Daily subsistence allowance (during probation period)
- Installation allowance and coverage of removal costs (one-time payments)
- Expatriation allowance or Foreign Residence allowance
- Household allowance
- Dependent child allowance
- European School enrollment for children or Education allowance if there is no local EU school
- Healthcare costs reimbursement to a level of 80-85% through the EU’s Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme (JSIS) for the employee and any direct family members and dependents. 100% reimbursement of costs in case of a serious illness
- Accident insurance
- Annual travel compensation
- Birth grant
- Parental leave
- Unemployment allowance
- Removal expenses when leaving your home country and again when leaving your EU institution
- EU pension, survivors and orphan’s pensions, invalidity allowance
- Lump sum payments in case of permanent invalidity or death
- Lump sum funeral expenses, up to EUR 2350
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This article is based on the European Commission Staff Regulations and other publicly available information such as EU institutions’ vacancy announcements.
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74 responses to “Contract Agents Function Group FG IV salary”
Hello everyone
Question: A person starts a FG-IV contract with 15 years of work experience (grade 14 according to salary grid) but after 2 years of work she will have 17 years (so qualified for grade 16). Does she will be automatically put in grade 16 once she reaches the 17 years required for grade 16 or not?
I am asking because I have read different opinions.
Many thanks,
Daniela AC.
Please note that I am NOT referring to reclassification, but to ccontracting to grade 16 (reaching the 17 years of work required, grade 16 does NOT require reclassification).
Hi i would like to ask if the compulsory military service is also counted as work experience?
Hi! I’m not sure about this one. I think not, but can’t guarantee 100%.
Please consider asking in our FB group. It’s possible someone will know the answer: https://www.facebook.com/groups/jobs.in.eu.institutions
Hi,
let’s assume that there is an IT position and someone has 13 years of experience outside of IT and 5 years of work experience in IT.
Will it count as 18 years and be placed in Grade 16, or only the 5 years will be counted and grade 14 would be granted?
Hi!
18 years. All work experience counts to decide the grade. Congrats on the extra pay bump!
Please consider joining our EUEA Facebook group! There it’s more likely that not only I but other readers will share their info and experience. To join, follow this link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/562529148888619/
Hi, I have been offered an FGIV contract Grade 13 step 1, but I have 15 years of professional experience after the relevant degree. Is there something I can do before accepting the job offer? Thank you.
HI! You should have been offered Grade 14 as you have over 5 years of work experience. I suggest you ask HR to revisit the decision to place you in grade 13. It’s possible there’s an incompetent staff member. As you see, this amounts to ~500 month / ~6000 EUR per year, so worth contesting.
Hi,
Thanks for your very useful and rich website.
Do you know the rules on how to obtain the number of years of experience?
How long is a year? 200 days of work ?
Are the exact number of days added? For instance, a counsultancy of 2 days would be counted as 2 days? One month?
What happened when one has two jobs at the same time? (for instance teaching classes and doing an internship)
Do internship count? Do studies count (as a French person, any post bac studies)?
You say that part time count (for instance, I gave classes through an official organism during my years at a business school, does that count for a full work experience?
Second part of the question: if one is hired for a renewable contract reaching the year limit (5 or 17) in between, would that be considered the same contract or a new appraisal of one’s work experience would be calculated?
Thank you very much once again for this website!
Hi Ben,
Frontex is recruiting EBCG guards at FGIV, AST4 and AD9 level in parallel. Can someone who has applied only for an FGIV position be recruited at AD9 grade if they meet the requirement ?
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and time.
Hello. Very useful blog.
Question regarding “CAs work under the supervision of officials or temporary staff”.
What does it mean “supervise”?
For example, can a FGIV oversee/coordinate other FGIV or an AD6?
Thanks.
Daniel.
This is about nominal hierarchy in EU institutions, a bit like in the army :). Yes, one FGIV can supervise other FGIVs.
However, from the legal perspective CAs should not ever supervise ADs as they are much better paid and of higher rank.
Thanks for the nice words. I’m glad someone finds this useful.
I suggest to follow this forum page: https://britishexpats.com/forum/police-79/frontex-border-guard-930437/page176/#post13231663
People who apply there regularly report that they’ve applied to multiple vacancies, and applying to two or more doesn’t disqualify you. It seems it’s worth to maximise your chances.
Excellent post.
I am FGIV in Frontex and I would like to ask if I can get the Child dependant allowance because of the son of my wife. He lives with us the vast majority of the time and we take care of him.
Thanks
Thank you! This is extremely clear and useful.
Do you know if the 17 years of experience 1) needs to be full time and 2) is maternity leave taken into account?
I have worked over 18 years but some of this time i worked only 20%-50% and some months I looked after my babies and did not have a fulltime contract. Is this taken into consideration?
Thanks!
Hi! Lots of layers in this question, let’s try to unpack.
As far as I’m aware, the total employment period counts, even if it’s half-time/less than full time.
Maternity leave would be taken into account if you remained in unemployment relations with an employer while on maternity leave, e.g., had a labour contract. If you left a job, then were on maternity leave, and found another job after the maternity leave, this would be a gap in your employment record. I know, totally unfair to women, but these are the rules for the time being.
If you were on part-time contracts, you should most likely get grade 16.
Let us know how it went, if you win a competition for a position! Maybe there’s a nuance that’s useful to others.
Hi, thank you for this very useful blog. Can I ask what the tax rate is for contract agents? Currently I’m subject to the 55% Belgian tax rate. Thanks!
Hello. I found this blog very practical and useful. If the professional working experience is for instance 16 years 11 months and 25 days. Is is possible to open a dispute to be in the next grade? Thank you
In short – no. Longer reply – you have 1 options. Apply to a new contract agent position after you reach 17 years of work experience. Option 2: use this as an argument to be reclassified to the desirable grade. If you have performed well, managers might see sense to reclassify you to keep you in your current position.
Thank you.
Hello,
Thanks for all this very helpful information here. Quick question, as I am in a process to be hired as FGIV, do you know how HR evaluate the original of work certificate and diplomas ? I’ve only kept copies, and I’m afraid I’ve lost some of the originals that could be taken into account for the salary. Thanks for any feedback !
Thank you for sharing information, it is very useful. I have a question about allowance paid during the parental leave. According to Art 42 a) of Staff Regulation during parental leave, an official shall be entitled to an allowance of EUR 1 050,30 per month. Also, the amounts mentioned in this Article shall be updated in line with remuneration.
Does it mean that this amount varies depending on category of Staff and grades? What would be the allowance for CA FG IV? Regards
Hello,
Very impressed with the amount of information here.
I’m quite new to the European System but I’m a belgian citizen who worked for the belgium administration for 6 years now.
I have seen a job offer for EEAS with a “contract agent FGIV as per article 3b”. If I understand your article, I should be class in the Grade 14 with a start basis monthly salary of EUR 4100. Is it a net amount ?
Compared to the belgium administration, this is significantly higher for similar years of experience. Would this base amount apply for a belgian citizen working in Brussels for EEAS ?
Thank you for your insights. Not looking for an exact amount, but just to have an idea and a range of expectation.
Thank you very much !
Hi! You should be able to get your answer by consulting one of the articles about Brussels-based EU institutions, for example, the EDA https://euemployment.eu/eda-salaries/
If you will be sent to a third country, a different (and more generous) rules will apply. However, for a Brussels-based position you can expect roughly what’s in the article. Hope this helps!
Hello, thanks for the very interesting article.
I would like to ask if Master Degree counts as work experience for an FGIV position.
I have 4 years of working experience and a master degree in engineering. I wounder if I can get to FGIV grade 14 or not.
Many thanks!
Hi! I’m unfortunatelly not a lawyer, so I hope someone more knowledgeable will chip in more authoritatively.
However, it is my understanding that if only a bachelors degree is required, masters degree studies are supposed to be counted as work experience. At the same time, I’ve heard of plenty of cases where HR practice differs and some institutions’ HR does not count masters degree studies in the work experience period by default.
Very informative. I have a question to this fragment:
“Secondly, you can undergo ‘promotion‘ based on good professional performance. A ‘promotion’ allows you to skip several steps or even a grade at once. If you want to be promoted, be sure to not only work hard, but also make your management notice your efforts throughout the year and during the annual ‘appraisal exercise’.”
Could you please specify the legal basis here? What are the exact provisions on the promotion for FGIV in the Staff Regulation or elsewhere? I will be very grateful for your reply.
Hi! I realize that the use of “promotion” might create some confusion. In essence it’s still an exercise of reclassification, but allows you to skip more than one step or even a grade. Normally everyone is ‘reclassified’ one step every two years. Based on good performance, you can be made to advance faster in the pay scale.
Dear Ben,
First of all, thank you for this article.
I have received an offer from an EU agency for a Contract Agent FG IV position at grade 13.
I understand that eligibility for this grade and determination of seniority will be confirmed at a later stage based on original diplomas and certificates of employment.
I have over 20 years of experience. Do you think it is possible for my grade to be upgraded to grade 16?”
Best regards,
Eric
Hi! If experience is over 17 years, you should be in grade 16. It is better to contest HR at the start as soon as you get in touch with them. Later it can take months or even over a year to correct this. And – do not worry, HR cannot withdraw the offer over a constructive dispute of how work experience length is calculated. It’s worth standing your ground as the financial difference is around 1000 EUR/month, subject to the correction coefficient.
I understood that only the working experience acquired after the diploma was awarded counts!
Dear Madam/Sir,
May I please if in the case where a contract agent changes Unit within an Executive agency, or DG within the EC, the years of experience are being re-calculated in the context of having a new contract? Isn’t this perhaps a way to go around the reclassification long waiting lists?
Thank you in advance,
BR, Ioannis
Dear Ioannis, what you described looks more a hypothetical option to me for the following reason:
A new contract that results in a re-assessment of your classification is to my knowlegde only possible if you apply for a new position outside the context of a mobility excercise or existing contractual renewal.
In reality you will have to resign from the initial position, apply and be recruited for that new one resulting in a new contract and classification. In this scenario you count on two assumptions: You will be selected and retained as a final candidate on that new post (?). Secondly that your experience (=beyond min. conditions for the Function Group grading etc.) is re-assessed in a way that it results in a ‘better’ classification compared to your old one (?). Two factors that you do not control at all …
Hi Ben, any insights on the procedural steps for the “promotion” from FG III to FG IV? And also, to confirm my understanding, if a person is successful in upgrading group function and, at the same time, has more than 5 years of experience, would they automatically access FG IV, in step 15? Or there are any extra procedures? I could not find any information on reaching this step in official EC docs.
Hi Ben and thank you for all the info and experience sharing.
Shouldn’t in the examples shown above be present also the ‘ solidarity Levy’ deduction? Which If I get it right is 6% on the Basic Salary.
Hi Ben and thanks so much for your work.
What happens with the holidays not taken if you go from one EU institution to other?
Do they transfer the days to the new institution or do they pay you?
Also what happens with the daily subsistence allowance in the new job. Let us say I have been in Lux for one year and during probation I and had my DSA, Am I entitled to DSA during the probation period in the new institution?
Thanks!