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Assistant Staff Officer salary (Grade 4)

Grade 4 Assistant Staff Officer is the first supervisory step in an Irish local authority, and the usual next move for a Grade 3 Clerical Officer. Its scale climbs noticeably faster at the bottom than the grade below it.

The short answer

A newly qualified assistant staff officer (grade 4) starts on €36,474 a year. After 15 years of service you reach the top of the scale on €56,015. Allowances for promoted posts and, for some teachers, qualifications are paid on top of these figures.

Starting salary
€36,474
about €2,581 a month take-home
Top of the scale
€56,015
about €3,534 a month take-home

Figures from Circular EL 04/2026, effective 1 June 2026. Take-home is for a single person with standard credits, after income tax, USC, PRSI and ASC.

What point of the scale am I on?

This is where most salary pages get it wrong. Your point is not always the same as your years of service, because one of the two scales carries incremental skips. Pick your situation:

You are on point 1
€36,474

The full pay scale, every point

Grade 4 Assistant Staff Officer, Senior Library Assistant

The same scale covers Assistant Staff Officer and Senior Library Assistant in every county and city council.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€36,474€30,968€2,581
2€38,622€32,474€2,706
3€41,672€34,613€2,884
4€43,673€36,017€3,001
5€45,425€37,033€3,086
6€47,120€37,894€3,158
7€49,406€39,056€3,255
8€51,063€39,898€3,325
9€52,761€40,760€3,397
LSI 1€54,367€41,576€3,465
LSI 2€56,015€42,413€3,534

Take-home assumes a single person with the personal and employee tax credits, no other income, and ASC at Single Public Service Pension Scheme rates. Your main superannuation contribution is deducted separately and depends on your scheme.

What you earn in each year of your career

On the grade 4 scale scale you move up one point for each year of satisfactory service, with no skipped points. That means 15 years of service to reach the top.

Years of service Your point Gross salary
Year 1Point 1€36,474
Year 2Point 2€38,622
Year 3Point 3€41,672
Year 4Point 4€43,673
Year 5Point 5€45,425
Year 6Point 6€47,120
Year 7Point 7€49,406
Year 8Point 8€51,063
Year 9Point 9€52,761
Year 12Long Service Increment 1€54,367
Year 15Long Service Increment 2€56,015

Progression is automatic on your incremental date as long as your service is satisfactory. Time spent on a career break or otherwise out of service pushes your incremental date back. The two Long Service Increments are not annual increments: they are paid for time served at the maximum of the scale, LSI 1 after 3 years and LSI 2 after 6 years. That is why they appear several years after the last point rather than one after the other.

What comes off your salary

Four deductions apply before your pay reaches your account, and one of them is specific to the public service.

Income tax, USC and PRSI

The same as any employee. Income tax at 20% up to €44,000 for a single person and 40% above, USC in bands from 0.5% to 8%, and PRSI at 4.2%.

ASC, the public service extra

The Additional Superannuation Contribution. Nothing on the first €34,500, then 3.33% to €60,000 and 3.5% above for Single Scheme members. Pre-2013 scheme members pay 10% and 10.5% on the same bands. It reduces your income tax but not your USC or PRSI.

One thing to be aware of: the take-home figures on this page include ASC but not your main superannuation contribution, which is charged separately and depends on which pension scheme you joined. Your actual net pay will be somewhat lower. We show ASC because its rates are published and identical for everyone, while the main contribution varies.

Questions people ask most

How much does an Assistant Staff Officer earn in Ireland?
A Grade 4 Assistant Staff Officer starts on €36,474 a year and reaches €52,761 at the top of the ordinary scale. The two long service increments then bring it to €54,367 and finally €56,015. Figures come from Circular EL 04/2026, effective 1 June 2026.
What is the starting salary for a Grade 4 in a council?
€36,474 a year at point 1, which is about €4,500 more than a Grade 3 Clerical Officer starts on. Previous relevant service can place you higher through incremental credit.
Is Grade 4 worth it compared to Grade 3?
The gap widens as you go up, which is the part people miss. At the start it is roughly €4,500 a year. But the Grade 4 scale reaches its ordinary maximum of €52,761 after 9 years, while a Grade 3 takes 14 years to reach €47,770. A Grade 4 also has two long service increments against Grade 3's one, so the ceiling is €56,015 against €49,413.
How long does it take to reach the top of the Grade 4 scale?
9 years to reach the top ordinary point of €52,761. The first long service increment follows after 3 further years at the maximum and the second after 6, so €56,015 arrives after 15 years in total.
Why are the early increments on Grade 4 so large?
Because the increments are not even across the scale. The step from point 2 to point 3 is over €3,000, the largest single jump on the scale, while later steps settle to around €1,700. A Grade 4 passes €41,000 by point 3, which a Grade 3 does not reach until point 10.
What comes after Grade 4 in a local authority?
Grade 5 Staff Officer, which starts on €52,761. That figure is worth noticing: it is exactly the top ordinary point of the Grade 4 scale, so a Grade 4 at the maximum who is promoted starts their new grade on the same money and then climbs again from there.
What are LSI1 and LSI2?
Long service increments, and they are not ordinary annual increments. LSI1 is paid after 3 years of satisfactory service at the maximum of the scale and LSI2 after 6 years. Grade 4 has both, unlike Grade 3 which has only the first.
How much ASC does a Grade 4 pay?
The Additional Superannuation Contribution charges nothing on the first €34,500 of pensionable pay, so on point 1 of €36,474 it applies only to €1,974. Most staff are in the Single Public Service Pension Scheme and pay 3.33% on the amount above the threshold.
How do you become an Assistant Staff Officer?
Through competitions run by the individual local authority or by the Local Government Management Agency, usually with both internal and open streams. Serving Grade 3 staff commonly move up this way.
When do local government salaries increase next?
These rates come from the Public Service Agreement 2024-2026, which applied a 1% increase on 1 June 2026. That agreement is in its final year, so the next rates depend on the agreement that succeeds it. We update this page when a new circular is published.

Where these figures come from

Every euro figure on this page is taken from the official circulars below, not from salary surveys or crowd-sourced averages. Last checked 2026-08-13.

More public sector pay:

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