Public service salary levels 2026

Levels 1 to 16

Every public service post that is not on an occupation-specific scale sits on a salary level from 1 to 16. The level is set by the job's weight — what it is responsible for — not by the person in it, so a Level 5 clerk in Limpopo and a Level 5 clerk at National Treasury are paid on the same band. Roughly:

• Levels 1–4 — entry and support posts: general assistants, cleaners, groundsmen, food service aids, drivers, porters.
• Levels 5–7 — clerks, officers, secretaries, data capturers, artisans, senior clerks and supervisors.
• Levels 8–10 — senior officers, practitioners, state accountants, chief clerks; the first supervisory tiers.
• Levels 11–12 — deputy directors and equivalents: the Middle Management Service (MMS).
• Levels 13–16 — directors, chief directors, deputy directors-general and directors-general: the Senior Management Service (SMS).

Every post on this site that states a level is tagged with it, and the search filters group the levels into those five bands so you can browse by seniority.

The current figures, from the circulars

The rand amounts are set by the Minister for the Public Service and Administration and move with each year's cost-of-living adjustment. Rather than reprint a table that goes stale, this one is built from the salary lines of the posts this site has processed: for each level, the lowest and highest annual figure an advert actually printed, and how many posts stated that level. Source: the circulars up to and including Circular 39 of 2026.

A level's true range runs from its first notch to its last; an advert usually prints the first notch (the "commencing salary") or a range, so the table understates the top of each band. The figure that governs any post is the one in its own advert, shown verbatim on its job page. The authoritative scale is the DPSA's salary determination on dpsa.gov.za. "Per month" is the annual figure divided by twelve, before tax and deductions.

What does salary level 5 mean?

It is the post's place on the public service scale: level 5 is the upper end of the clerk and officer tier (levels 5–7), above entry and support posts and below the supervisory levels from 8. In the circulars this site has processed, level 5 adverts print from R237 453 a year (about R19 788 a month before deductions); see the level 5 row and the 82 level 5 posts.

The same reading works for any level, and for an OSD grade such as "Grade 1" (see OSD below): the advert names the scale and the figure, and the job page shows it exactly as printed. Anchors such as #level-8 link straight to a level's row.

Notches and pay progression

A level is a band, not a single figure. Inside it are a series of notches — fixed steps a few percent apart. A new appointee normally starts on the first notch of the level, which is why most adverts print one figure and label it the commencing salary. Movement up the notches comes with years of service and satisfactory performance, one step at a time; a promotion to a higher level restarts you near the bottom of the new band, which is usually still a raise.

When an advert prints a range — "R237 453 – R279 708 per annum" — it is telling you the level's first and last notch, and that where you start inside it will depend on your experience. Some adverts say exactly that: "offer will be based on years of experience."

Reading a salary line

The salary lines in the current circulars take a handful of forms. Examples, as printed:

• "R413 001 per annum (Level 08)" — one notch, the level in brackets. The most common form.
• "R144 024 – R169 656 per annum (Level 02)" — the level's range.
• "R487 197 per annum (Level 09), (Commencing salary)" — the first notch, said explicitly.
• "R932 292 per annum (Level 11), (all-inclusive remuneration package to be structured in accordance with the rules for MMS)" — a package, not a basic salary; see below.
• "Grade 1: R510 906 – R581 892 per annum, (OSD)" — an occupation-specific grade rather than a level; see below.
• "R98 097 per annum" on an internship — a stipend, printed as an annual figure.

Where a circular prints no figure, or a figure this site could not read with confidence, the job page says Not stated in circular and the markup claims nothing. Nothing on this site is estimated.

"All-inclusive" packages: MMS and SMS

From Level 11 upward the salary line stops being a basic salary and becomes a total package. Adverts at Levels 11–12 say the package is "to be structured in accordance with the rules for MMS"; at Level 13 and above they say "all-inclusive salary package". In both cases the printed figure is the whole cost of employment: a basic salary plus the employer's pension contribution and a flexible portion that the appointee structures — for a car allowance, medical aid contribution and so on — within the rules. The take-home is therefore lower than the printed figure in a way that a Level 8 basic salary is not.

SMS posts (Level 13+) also carry conditions the circular spells out: appointment is subject to completing the National School of Government's Nyukela pre-entry programme, shortlisted candidates sit a technical exercise, and a final few undergo psychometric assessment. The application guide covers it.

OSD: nurses, doctors, social workers, engineers

Some occupations are paid on their own scales, the Occupation-Specific Dispensations, introduced to keep pay for scarce professions competitive. An OSD advert prints a grade rather than a level, and often several grades with a range each, because the grade you are appointed on depends on your registered years of experience:

• Nursing — professional nurse grades 1 to 3, with speciality streams; the circular's own shorthand ("PN-A2", "PN-B1", "PN-B3") appears in the post titles.
• Medical — medical officer grades 1 to 3, medical specialists, clinical managers, pharmacists, and the allied professions (radiography, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dietetics, psychology).
• Social services — social workers and social auxiliary workers, community development practitioners.
• Engineering and science — engineers, technicians and technologists in "production" and "candidate" grades; scientists and scientific technicians on the same pattern.
• Legal — state advocates, prosecutors, legal administration officers, magistrates.
• Education — educators and lecturers, on the post-level scale.

An OSD salary line looks like "Grade 1: R741 102 – R821 070 per annum, (OSD) Grade 2: R844 128 – R935 045 per annum, (OSD)". Posts tagged OSD on this site are filterable as such, and their grade is shown where the advert states it.

What the salary line leaves out

Below Level 11 the printed figure is a basic salary only. Adverts sometimes add the benefits that come with a permanent appointment — a pension fund, a medical aid subsidy, a housing allowance, thirteenth cheque — but not consistently, and this site does not add them where the advert does not. Where an advert states a benefit it is in the verbatim text on the job page. Where it does not, ask the enquiries contact the advert names; that is what the contact is for.

Where to go next

Search all open posts · jobs by title · how to apply · the Z83 form · closing this week.