Who qualifies for Ruto’s civil servants pay rise? Full list revealed
Thousands of civil servants across Kenya are preparing for bigger salaries after the government confirmed a sweeping pay increase affecting workers across the public sector.
The salary review follows a directive from President William Ruto, with Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku announcing the move during Public Service Week celebrations at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi on Tuesday, June 23.
The latest package builds on an earlier salary adjustment introduced in January 2026 and backdated to July 2025, with the government saying the new measures are intended to cushion workers against the country’s soaring cost of living.
Kenyan families have continued to feel the pressure of rising prices, with food, fuel, electricity, transport and housing costs eating into household budgets in recent years.
Who qualifies for the salary increase?
Ruku said the latest review is designed to benefit the wider public service rather than a handful of selected departments.
The revised package includes increases to gross salaries, housing allowances and commuter allowances, meaning workers across different levels of government are expected to see changes in their upcoming pay slips.
Among the biggest beneficiaries are more than 400,000 teachers employed by the Teachers Service Commission, with the adjustments complementing existing multi-year Collective Bargaining Agreements.
Staff working in Kenya’s public universities, including lecturers and non-teaching employees, will also receive the revised pay packages under the updated Treasury funding arrangements.
Healthcare workers have also been included in the review. Nurses, clinical officers and laboratory technicians employed in public health facilities are among those set to receive improved allowances reflecting the demands of their work.
The salary review also extends to members of Kenya’s security services, including officers in the National Police Service, prison officers and personnel serving in the Kenya Defence Forces.
Civil servants working in national ministries, state departments and parastatal agencies have also been included.
County government employees across all 47 counties will equally benefit from the pay review, making it one of the broadest public sector salary adjustments in recent years.
However, the increase will not apply to Senior State Officers. The President, Deputy President, Cabinet Secretaries and Members of Parliament have all been excluded from the latest salary review.
Government issues payroll warning
Alongside the salary increase, the government has ordered all public institutions to move onto a single payroll platform known as the Human Resource Information System.
The system is intended to eliminate ghost workers, prevent payroll fraud and improve accountability in the management of public funds.
Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku warned ministries, county governments, state agencies and departments that they have one month from June 23 to complete the migration.
“To ensure efficiency and proper use of public resources and taxes, the President has directed that all ministries, county governments, agencies, and state departments must be on one payroll platform, the Human Resource Information System,” Ruku said.
The government says any institution that fails to comply within the deadline risks being locked out of the payroll system.
That means employees in non-compliant ministries, agencies or county governments could face delays in receiving their salaries until the migration is completed.
“All departments that will not have complied within one month will not remit your salaries,” Ruku added.
The one-month deadline now places pressure on accounting officers, ministry heads and county governors to complete the transition before salary processing is affected.
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