*Update 23.09.2025: It’s now official: 50 AST/SCs are to have the (mis)fortune of doing an AST post without the corresponding AST promotion speed or career potential. Check the Draft 2026 Commission budget [1]: ’50 posts in the function group AST may be occupied by officials and temporary staff in the AST/SC function group to reflect the gradual phase-in of the AST/SC function group.’ (p. 955, footnote 1). While the Commission as a whole is set to lose 24 posts, the AST function group is to lose 121 (leaving 4398 permanent staff). No other function group is to decrease in size.*
*Update 26.08.2025 the updated internal competitions time estimates are available under ‘planning’ [2]: please note some will take place SOONER than originally stated: don’t miss your chance!*
Original article: We will add the presentation from our February 2025 [3] event here and below you’ll find an extended version of a frequently asked questions (FAQs) based on the questions asked there.
If there’s something here that you can add to, that you’d like more information on or that you’d like to challenge (we’re open to all input!) then please get in touch [4]: we’re here for you ! Thanks very much to all who attended!
Feel free to ctrl+f and search for keywords, you don’t have to read the whole thing !
Role/function group
- Where can I find which tasks belong to which function groups?
- All
- European Court of Auditors, 2020,Special Report 23/2020 [5]: The European Personnel Selection Office: Time to adapt the selection process to changing recruitment needs. Indicative tasks p.45
- European Court of Auditors, 2019, Special report no 15/2019 [6]: Implementation of the 2014 staff reform package at the Commission – Big savings but not without consequences for staff. Indicative tasks p.50
- Vacancies [7]>Actions>View vacancies (right hand menu) Check out those descriptions and keywords.
- Assistants (ASTs) and secretaries and clerks (AST/SC)
- Staff Regulation Annex I [8]Types of posts in each function group, as provided for in Article 5(4)
- Administrators (ADs)
- Official Journal C177A [9] 05.2019 NOTICE OF OPEN COMPETITION EPSO/AD/373/19 — ADMINISTRATORS (AD 5) p.9
- From sysperII appraisal certification tab
- Strategic analysis
- Policy analysis
- Economic analysis
- Policy development
- Personnel policy planning
- Policy monitoring
- Policy coordination
- Managing legislation
- Representation and negotiation
- Project /process management
- IT service management
- Technical analysis and advice
- Management and planning
- Human resources management
- Internal coordination and consultation
- Inter-service coordination and consultation
- Horizontal coordination
- Information, communication, publications
- External communication
- Internal communication: drafting of information reports and design of information meetings (for unit members, management, Commission members, etc.).
- List of tasks normally performed by Administrators [10]
- Are AST and AST/SC in the same function group?
No, while they share part of a name (‘AST’) they are completely separate. There are 3 function groups for officials and Temporary Agents: administrators (AD), assistants (AST) and secretaries and clerks (AST/SC [11]). See slide 9 [12].
- So, where is the main difference between function groups AST/SC and AST?
- Tasks [8] (see below, though, as highlighted in the the European Court of Auditors, 2024, Special Report 24/2024 [13]: EU Civil service A flexible employment framework, insufficiently used to improve workforce management (and replies [14]) these are wildly out of date and need to be reconfigured),
- certification (exclusively for ASTs, no AST/SC equivalent),
- salary [15],
- very small net salary increase [16],
- promotion speed (officials) [17][1] which appears to be going slower than the stated average since the AST/SC funtion group has been retrofitted into a system not designed for it and there are so few AST/SC staff that they do not have the mass to generate a corresponding promotion quota [18]. Please appeal in June [19] if your name is not on the draft promotion list,
- career perspectives (the top of the scale is AST/SC6 [20], which roughly corresponds to an AST/AD5 salarywise [15]) and
- since this function group was created in 2014 [21], AST/SCs accrue pension rights at the lowest rate (1.8%) and will likely be eligible for the ‘minimum subsistence’ pension only [22]. Please check likely outcomes before doing a transfer in of pension contributions [23] made elsewhere: if you will remain an AST/SC it may not be worthwhile.
[24]
- Can you move to a different function group?
AD: where would they go?
AST: yes, via any or all of the following
- external EPSO competitions [25] to any function group (to come back in from outside/be rerecruited)
- the 2025-2027 internal competitions [26] to the next function group: AD (no longer limited to within the same function group (this artificial restriction has no basis in the staff regulations [27]))
- certification [28].
AST/SC: yes, via either or both of the following
- external EPSO competitions [25] to any function group
- the 2025-2027 internal competitions [26] to the next function group: AST
Unfortunately there is NO certification or equivalent as yet [29] for AST/SC.
- Can an AST/SC who reaches the top of the scale (AST/SC6, roughly equivalent to AST5) move to a an AST6 role?
No, see question 4, for AST/SCs movement between function groups is via competition (internal or external).
Mismatch between function groups/tasks
- Can ASTs/SCs find themselves doing administrator (AD) of assistant (AST) tasks?
- Yes, this does happen and the only place for it to be recognised/compensated is via the promotions system, so please shout about it there and appeal in June if your name is not on the draft promotion list (see question 3): it’s possible there was not enough quota to promote you. There the criteria are for promotion are:
- merit (how good your career development review (CDR) reports) are
- languages used at work
- responsibility (especially for people or money)
- But I’m not a secretary or a clerk! Why the name?
Yes, it’s a misnomer and includes e.g. bodyguards and drivers. Ostensibly the new AST/SC function group was to reseparate assistants (old category B) from secretaries and clerks (old category C) with no mention of those in manual roles (old category D). i.e. to resestablish a post-2014 equivalent of the old pre-2004 category C, while starting lower salarywise [30] than the old category D.
This means that the AST/SC1 is below the subsistance salary of AST1 used to calculate pension, the invalidity allowance etc.
Pre-2004 Commission there were 4 staff function groups (‘categories’):
A administrators
B assistants
C secretaries and clerks
D those carrying out manual roles e.g. ushers or drivers
But that is not quite what happened. this is what we currently have:
AD administrators (old category A)
AST assistants (old category B)
AST/SC everybody else (secretaries and clerks (old C) AND those carrying out manual roles (old D)).
- So an AST/SC might do tasks from all different groups?
Yes, and it can and does happen [31]. The European Court of Auditors, 2024, Special Report 24/2024 [13]: EU Civil service A flexible employment framework, insufficiently used to improve workforce management (and replies [14]) highlights this on several occasions.
ECA Recommendation 3b highlights a need to map tasks and update job descriptions to address this and to improve career options (paragraphs 91-97).
Taken to an extreme, a mismatch between job description and tasks carried out can fall within the definition of bullying/harassment [32]: ‘not being allocated any task corresponding to the job description or systematically being given tasks which do not meet their profile’ (MyIntracomm [33])
- Can an AST/SC become an AST?
Yes, see question 4.
- Roles can change function group?
Yes, they can and do: why pay an AD for something you can get an AST or an AST/SC to do? A Generation 2004 member has opened an official complaint [31] with regards to a job which jumped down the function groups until it became an AST/SC role with almost no change in the job description!
- Will this function group disappear?
No, we see no such plans, but it should ‘evolve’. For the European Court of Auditors, 2024, Special Report 24/2024 [13]: EU Civil service A flexible employment framework, insufficiently used to improve workforce management (and replies [14]) this would be done via an update in the desciption of roles and an improved career outlook.
- What happens if I’m overqualified for the role/function group or doing tasks above my pay grade?
Shout about it in your evaluation at promotion time and in your application for competitions. Use the list in question 1 to show tasks.
————————–
Your question is not here? Please do not hesitate to contact us [34] or leave a comment below and we will add any new ones to this list.
If you appreciate our work, please consider becoming a member of Generation 2004 [35].
To stay informed, please follow us on social media:
Generation 2004 (@2004generation) / Twitter [36]
Generation 2004 – Startpagina | Facebook [37]
[1] Not all Temporary Agents can be promoted.
What is normal for promotion/reclassification?
| Staff | Appraisal | Reward possible? | Minimum time in grade (‘seniority’) to be eligible | Average speed of reward |
| Officials | Yes | Promotion [38] | 2 years | staff regulations Annex I.B [8] and our chart [17] with those percentages converted to years |
| Temporary agents [39] (2a and 2d) | Yes | Reclassification (JRC/GROW/RTD [40] only?) [*] | 2 years | Staff Regulations Annex I.B [8] |
| Temporary agents (2b, 2c, 2e, 2f [41]) | Yes | no[**] | Not applicable (N/A) | N/A |
| Contract Agents [42] 3a | Yes | reclassification [43] | 2 years | Page 3 of Ares(2021)2467829 – 12/04/2021 CSC note on CA 3a [44] |
| Contract Agents 3b [45] | Yes | no | ≤ 3 years | N/A |
[*] There is a joint committee on reclassification (not promotion) for Temporary Agents (TAs) of JRC/GROW/RTD [46] only. We also see TAs with permanent contracts (yes, mental gymnastics are necessary here: to be permanently temporary) 2a and 2d [41] listed for reclassification.
[**] 16.01.2023 HR response to our questions on TAs: Conditions of Employment of Other Servants (CEOS [47]) (Article 15(2)) which states that only the provisions on annual reports [appraisal] from the Staff Regulations [48] (SR) (Article 43) apply by analogy to TAs. By contrast, there is no such provision concerning promotion (SR Article 45). This means that, in principle, TAs are not subject to promotion. This principle is confirmed in the case-law of the General Court (e.g. T-366/15 P [49], paragraph 48). Nevertheless, different agencies [50] (here also [51]) may apply Article 54 [52] of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants (CEOS [47]) differently and may allow for promotion of TAs (e.g. REA [53])’.
toolTips('.classtoolTips19','Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union (\'Staff Regulations [54] (SR)\') are rules stating:
• fundamental conditions of service
• basic rights, duties and obligations of staff.
The SR have been reformed x 2 (so far):
• 2004 (Kinnock White paper)
• 2014 (Regulation 1023/2013 [55])
For a summary of stated intentions and real outcomes of those two reforms check out: European Court of Auditors, 2019, Special report no 15/2019 [6]: Implementation of the 2014 staff reform package at the Commission – Big savings but not without consequences for staff
'); toolTips('.classtoolTips23','
Contract Agents (CAs) were created by the 2004 Staff Regulations Reform. There are two types of CA: those with unlimited contracts, 3A [56] (‘indefinite’) and those with time-limited contracts [57], 3B [58]. CAs can belong to 4 different function groups (\'GF\') with different responsibilities and salaries [15].
As the use of contract staff becomes increasingly common, there has been a corresponding increase in the diversity of status and pay of the Commission’s workforce. For example, GFIV contract staff meeting the same minimum recruitment requirements (education and experience) as junior administrators may earn 28 % less. (European Court of Auditors, 2019, Special report no 15/2019 [6]: Implementation of the 2014 staff reform package at the Commission – Big savings but not without consequences for staff, point 61, page 34)
We have a working group dedicated to the dossier, and in December 2012 we addressed the first of many letters (\'notes\') about Contract Agents to Human Resources of all Institutions and Agencies [59] (here is the cover e-mail [60]).
As a background you can see the report of the Commission to the Council regarding the recruitment of the contract agents in 2010 [61] (in French, COM(2011)802 final 23.11.2011).
Our articles on Contract Agents [62]
'); toolTips('.classtoolTips26','A committee whose members are from two or more different organisations. In the context of the staff representation at the Commission this means that the committee members are:- 50% HR (\'the administration\')
- 50% trade unions and staff associations (OSPs).
Joint Committees at the Commission can be attached to the Central Staff Committee (CSC [63]) or to the Local Staff Committee (LSC): Brusels, Luxembourg, Ispra/Seville, Karlsruhe, Petten, Geel, France and Outside the Union (\'hors Union\'/\'CLP-HU\').'); toolTips('.classtoolTips34','A new Procedural Handbook for Invalidity Committees was published 25.11.2022 de [64] | en [65] | fr [66]
See also Special Report No 3/2003 on the invalidity pensions scheme of the European institutions, together with the institutions’ replies [67]
See also Staff Matters - Corporate - Invalidity [68] (Home [69]>Staff Matters [70]>Health [71]>Specific events [72]>Invalidity) and the calculation of the allowance [73].
Under certain circumstanaces you can work elsewhere while in receipt of an invalidity allowance:
\'Persons in receipt of an invalidity allowance may not engage in gainful employment without the prior authorisation of the Appointing Authority. Any income from such gainful employment which, in combination with the invalidity allowance, exceeds the final total remuneration received while in active service as determined on the basis of the salary scale in force on the first day of the month in which the allowance is to be paid shall be deducted from the invalidity allowance.\' Staff Regulations, VIII Pension scheme [74], Article 13(2)
'); toolTips('.classtoolTips38','Agencies (in general) can be either:- the >40 decentralised organisations [75] with seats throughout the EU which are created by a specific legislative act and charged with a particular task\' e.g. Europol, the EMCDDA , the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and Frontex.
- the 6 Brussels-based Executive Agencies [76] which are \'legal entities established ... with a view to being entrusted with certain tasks relating to the management of one or more European Union programmes. These agencies are set up for a fixed period.\' They are CINEA, EACEA, HADEA, Eismea, ERCEA and REA.