Pakistan unveils extensive civil service overhaul with new professional cadres

In Islamabad, the government finalized a sweeping civil service restructuring that creates 11 new professional cadres covering fields from engineering to climate and health. The plan, unveiled by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, also calls for the Establishment Division to become a Human Resource and Organisation Development Division and trims federal decision-making layers from five to three. Under the National Executive Service model, BS-20 and higher positions will be awarded via open competition on fixed-term contracts, allowing serving officers, private-sector experts and academics to compete equally, while the Police and Foreign Services stay outside the scheme.

The reforms include a pilot of performance-linked salaries, a retirement lump-sum funded by deductions, and subsidised health insurance. Recruitment will shift to competency-based assessments modeled on army practices, and the CSS exam will retain its core papers but raise the preliminary threshold and add analytical reasoning. Implementation is slated for completion within 120 days, overseen by a dedicated committee.