The Ministry of Finance has simplified the time scale promotion process for federal government employees in grades 1 to 16, clearing the way for thousands of eligible staff to receive their first upgrade after a decade of service.
Under the revised policy, employees who complete ten years of continuous service will now qualify for their first time scale promotion.
The benefit has also been extended to assistants promoted to BPS 16, as well as to staff currently on ex-Pakistan leave or half-average pay, both of whom have now been formally declared eligible.
The decision comes after prolonged uncertainty over how the policy should be applied across different departments. To resolve the confusion, the finance ministry issued a fresh directive instructing all ministries to implement the new criteria without exception.
The ministry has made clear that no time scale promotion can be granted without the approval of the Scale Committee and the relevant competent authority, a requirement intended to standardise the process across government departments.
A formal office memorandum detailing the updated service benefits has also been issued, laying out the eligibility conditions and procedural steps that ministries are now required to follow when processing time scale cases.
