8th Pay Commission: Pensioners excluded? 7th CPC vs. 8th CPC Pension rules

New Delhi: The Central Government issued a notification of the 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC) on November 3, 2025. It does not mention the pension review of existing pensioners and family pensioners. With this, the employees organization alleged that 69 lakh pensioners have been excluded from the purview of the 8th CPC. The Federation has written a letter to the Finance Ministry asking them to issue a clarification regarding this. To clear this doubt in the minds of pensioners, it is important to know how the 8th CPC resolution differs from the 7th CPC.

In the notification of the 8th Pay Commission, there is no mention of reviewing the existing pensions given to central government pensioners and family pensioners. However, it has ordered a review of pension-related issues under the National Pension System (NPS). This includes UPS.

The Commission has been asked to review and recommend the gratuity (Death-cum-Retirement Gratuity) received by employees coming under the NPS (including Unified Pension Scheme) if they die or retire during their jobs. Employees who do not come under NPS (including Unified Pension Scheme) have been asked to review the death cum retirement gratuity and pension and make recommendations.

The notification of the 7th Pay Commission was issued by the Finance Ministry on 28th February 2014. Unlike the 8th CPC, the 7th CPC directly mentioned the structure of pension and other retirement benefits. The 7th CPC also ordered a review of the pension of retired employees before the implementation of the 7th pay commission. It was asked to keep in mind that employees who join jobs after 1 January 2004 come under the purview of the New Pension Scheme (NPS).

The 7th CPC resolution asked to examine the rules governing the structure of pensions and other retirement benefits. This includes changes in the pension of employees who retired before the effective date of these recommendations. Keep in mind that the retirement benefits of all central government employees appointed on or after 01.01.2004 are covered under the New Pension Scheme (NPS). Employees organizations are demanding the same inclusion in the 8th CPC.

AIDEF (All India Defence Employees Federation) demands that the government include the terms of the 7th Central Pay Commission (7th CPC) in the 8th Central Pay Commission (8th CPC). He says that the ToR should be amended, so that provision can be made to re-fix the pension of those employees who have retired before the date of implementation of the 8th Pay Commission i.e. 01.01.2026. It also includes suggestions like a 5 percent pension increase every five years.