The office of the Commission on Public Sector Salaries and Pensions will open on Tuesday, the President’s Media Division said, and the body will immediately begin taking submissions from trade unions and the public.
The office opens at 10.00 a.m. at Malalasekara Mawatha, Colombo 07.
The commission was established under a directive issued by the President through Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 2494/05 of 22 June 2026.
What the commission is tasked with
Its remit covers salaries and pensions for public sector officials, together with a broader brief on the structure of the public service itself. The PMD said the commission has been asked to address outstanding issues in pay and pension systems, raise professionalism among public servants, and recommend the structural reforms needed to modernise the service in line with technological change and international practice.
The formal process of inviting views and proposals from trade unions, organisations and members of the public begins on Tuesday alongside the opening.
Context
Public sector pay has been one of the government’s more difficult fiscal questions. State salaries and pensions absorb a large share of recurrent spending, and successive administrations have deferred structural revision while operating under IMF programme targets.
Agriculture Minister K.D. Lal Kantha said on Sunday that delays in the state service are holding back economic transformation, and indicated that further public sector pay rises are expected in the budget.
The commission’s recommendations are advisory. Any revision to pay scales or pension entitlements would require separate Cabinet and budgetary decisions.
