All public sector employees need to be careful with their finances at the end of January.
After the holidays, this isn’t really the kind of news that will cheer you up. In January, the bank account will have to be expandable for six million French people. A particular organization of its budget will be necessary at the start of the year for civil servants. In fact, the latter are ordered to wait 40 days before receiving their next salary.
If the payment schedule for teachers, caregivers, employees of town halls, departments or even regions, police officers, but also gendarmes is known in advance, few think to look at the dates each month. However, in January, it is better to be alerted of late payment of pay to avoid an unpleasant surprise.
This is not the first time that this has happened, but the situation for this month of January 2025 is special. Indeed, the waiting period between the two salaries is particularly long: more than a month, even flirting with illegality. The rule in the public service is however clear. The deadline is always set at the penultimate working day of the month, i.e. the penultimate day of the month among the days worked, working days being Monday to Friday.
In January this will be Wednesday 29th (last working day Friday 31st). However, in December, the payment of the salary was brought forward by a big week: the pay arrived on the 20th, so that it would be credited before Christmas.
Bad luck with the calendar, the date which applies in January is late. To this must be added the delay in processing the payment by the banks, which can delay pay by one or two additional days. If the salary will therefore be transferred on Wednesday January 29 to civil servants, it may therefore not arrive for some until January 31.
This will be the first and last time in 2025 that such a big payment delay will occur. On the other hand, salary payment will also be late in July and October 2025, with transfers scheduled for the 29th of the month. The rest of the time, pay will arrive between the 26th and 28th of each month.