Duration of contracts
Contracts will be offered for the duration of the project (Article 5 of the Staff Regulations).
Probationary period
Probation period of three months (Article 7 of the Staff Regulations).
Remuneration
The following applies for eligibility for staff that took up duties at the Centre up to 31 December 2016:
Remuneration consists of a basic salary in accordance with the staff member’s grade and step. ECMWF follows incremental salary scales within Grades A, L, B and C; the highest grade is A7 and the lowest is C1. In addition to the basic salary, the following allowances are payable, subject to qualifying conditions:
- Dependent child allowance: currently £280.52 per child per month (Article 16.A)
- Expatriation allowance (Article 18)
- Household allowance: 6% of basic salary (Article 15.A)
For new staff that take up duties on or after 1 January 2017, the following applies:
- Supplement for dependent child, currently £280.52 (Article 16.B)
- Expatriation allowance (Article 18)
- Basic family allowance currently £280.52 (Article 15.B)
- locally recruited staff (not entitled to expatriation allowance) - payable for 5 years
- staff entitled to expatriate staff (recruited from within the geographical zone of ECMWF) - payable for 10 years, decreasing by 20% per year from year 6 to reach zero in year 10
- staff entitled to expatriate staff (recruited from outside the geographical zone of ECMWF) - payable for the duration of employment
- Rent allowance: only certain grades and subject to certain conditions (Article 20)
Expatriation allowance
The expatriation allowance will be paid to staff members within the grade categories A, L and B who, at the time of their appointment with ECMWF:
- were not nationals of the UK; and
- had not been continuously resident in the UK for at least one year, no account being taken of previous service in their own country's administration or with other international organisations; and
- were recruited internationally from outside the Co-ordinated Organisations or from outside the country of assignment; and
- were recruited from outside the local commuting area of the duty station.
The local commuting area shall be defined as a radius of 100 km from the duty station.
Expatriation allowance is always calculated on the first step of the grade.
The rate of the expatriation allowance during the first five years of service will be 10% of basic salary. In years six through ten, it will be reduced by two percentage points per year to reach zero in year ten (Article 18 of the Staff Regulations).
Income tax
The remuneration received from ECMWF is exempt from national income tax.
Social security
Staff members are exempt from paying national insurance contributions in the UK. However, it is possible under certain conditions to pay into the scheme on a voluntary basis by paying Class 3 national insurance contributions.
Supplementary health insurance scheme
All staff members are required to contribute to ECMWF’s supplementary health insurance scheme for personal medical insurance. The insurance offered by this scheme is supplementary to the coverage available under any national health scheme. Staff members are required to contribute 1/3 of 4.32% of their basic salary, plus related allowances, to this scheme. The percentage rate is reviewed from time to time.
Annual leave
Staff members are entitled to paid annual leave at a rate of 2.5 working days for each month of service completed, i.e. 30 working days per year, plus official holidays (Article 33 of the Staff Regulations).
Maternity leave
The maternity leave entitlement is 20 weeks on full pay, provided the staff member has worked at ECMWF for at least six months (Article 36 of the Staff Regulations).
Sick leave
Staff members are entitled to paid sick leave for a maximum period of nine months on full pay, but periods of paid sick leave shall not extend beyond the end of the contract period (Article 35.5 of the Staff Regulations).
Working hours
The normal working week is from Monday to Friday inclusive and shall total 40 hours (Article 29 of the Staff Regulations).