Salary of Secretaries and Clerks in Function Group AST/SC 5

Salary of Secretaries and Clerks in Function Group AST/SC 5

This article covers the topic of salary for Secretaries and Clerks in Function Group AST/SC 5 in the European Commission. The information about AST/SC5 salary also directly applies to staff of the European Parliament, European Council, EU agencies and all other EU institutions.

Basic salary

The amount of basic salary depends on which grade (1-6) and step in each grade (1-5) the staff member finds himself/herself in. The monthly ‘basic salary’ for Secretaries and Clerks in Function Group AST/SC 5 in the European Commission ranges from EUR 4499 for step I to EUR 5090 for step 5.

Complete remuneration package

Knowing the monthly ‘basic salary’ does not tell you much about your final take-home pay and the full remuneration package. There are two reasons for this.

Firstly, the basic salary can make up anything between ~85% and 130% or more of your total remuneration package depending on whether you are entitled to the various allowances. This is especially so if you are an expat or/and have children.

Secondly, the country you are employed in has a significant impact on your total salary due to the European CommissionCorrection Coefficient‘. Brussels is used as reference, so if you work for EU institutions in Belgium, you get 100% of your salary and allowances. However, 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 Brussels colleague gets due to what Eurostat considers are lower living costs. More on the impact of the Correction Coefficient below.

Secretaries and Clerks’ remuneration by family and residence status

Below is a sample calculation of an AST/SC5 take-home pay with allowances for four common scenarios for a person employed as ‘Secretary and Clerk’ in Brussels, Belgium.

Situation 1Situation 2Situation 3Situation 4
Single Belgian national with no childrenMarried Belgian national with two childrenSingle non-Belgian national (expat) with no childrenMarried non-Belgian national (expat) with two children
SECRETARIES AND CLERKS AST/SC5
Basic Pay4499449944994499
Household allowance02850285
Dependent child allowance08580858
Expatriation allowance00891891
Pension contribution-447-447-447-447
Sickness insurance contribution-75-75-75-75
Accident insurance contribution-4-4-4-4
Tax-129-129-129-129
Special levy-48-48-48-48
TOTAL REMUNERATION3796493946875830
Secretaries and Clerks AST/SC5 salary and allowances: full remuneration package

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 an annual travel grant for each family member, the amount of which depends on distance between Brussels and your home city (as an example, an Italian family from Rome would get around 1000 EUR per family member).

European Commission 2022 salary scale for Secretaries and Clerks AST/SC

GradesStep 1Step 2Step 3Step 4Step 5
65 090,255 304,165 527,045 680,795 759,29
54 498,934 687,984 885,675 020,885 090,25
43 976,314 143,394 317,514 437,634 498,93
33 514,383 662,063 815,973 922,113 976,31
23 106,123 236,663 372,683 466,503 514,38
12 745,302 860,672 980,883 063,793 106,12
European Commission 2022 salary scale for Secretaries and Clerks AST/SC | Source: Article 66 of Staff Regulations

Impact of Correction Coefficient on AST/SC5 basic pay

The below table shows you the actual Secretaries and Clerks AST/SC 5 basic pay according to the location of your institution. This site has a dedicated article about the Correction Coefficient if you want to find out more.

EU locationEU institutionCorrection CoefficientAdjusted basic salary in EUR
Amsterdam, NetherlandsEMA111.45012
Barcelona, SpainF4E96.34333
Berlin, GermanyEU Delegation101.44562
Bilbao, SpainEU-OSHA96.34333
Bratislava, SlovakiaELA79.93595
Brussels, BelgiumEuropean Commission, European Parliament, European Council, EDA, SRB1004499
Bucharest, RomaniaECITRCC68.53082
Budapest, HungaryCEPOL, EIT76.13424
Cologne, GermanyEASA96.94360
Copenhagen, DenmarkEEA134.26038
Dublin, IrelandEUROFOUND133.66011
Frankfurt am Main, GermanyECB, EIOPA96.94360
Hague, NetherlandsEurojust, Europol111.45012
Helsinki, FinlandECHA118.65336
Heraklion, GreeceENISA85.23833
Karlsruhe, GermanyJRC96.94360
Lefkosia, CyprusEU Delegation82.23698
Lisbon, PortugalEMSA, EMCDDA91.44112
Ljubljana, SloveniaACER84.93820
Luxembourg City, LuxembourgEuropean Commission, Eurostat, CDT, Court of Auditors1004499
Madrid, SpainEU Delegation96.34333
Munich, Germanyn/a113.45102
Parma, ItalyEFSA91.24103
Paris, FranceEBA, ESMA119.95394
Prague, CzechiaEGSA88.13964
Riga, LatviaBEREC803599
Rome, ItalyEU Delegation95.24283
Sofia, BulgariaEU Delegation61.72776
Stockholm, SwedenECDC130.35862
Tallinn, Estoniaeu-LISA86.33883
Thessaloniki, GreeceCEDEFOP85.23833
Turin, ItalyETF91.24103
Valletta, MaltaEUAA944229
Varese, Italyn/a91.24103
Valenciennes and Lille, FranceERA119.95394
Vienna, AustriaFRA109.64931
Vigo, SpainEFCA96.34333
Vilnius, LithuaniaEIGE80.13604
Warsaw, PolandFrontex70.63176
Zagreb, CroatiaEU Delegation78.33523
Basic Pay of European Commission Secretaries and Clerks in Function Group AST/SC5 step 1 adjusted by the Correction Coefficient

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” above with the appropriate Correction Coefficient value to get an approximate figure of your take-home pay.

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.

Visuals for social sharing

Secretaries and Clerks AST/SC5 salary and allowances: full remuneration package
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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