United Nations Common System

A/RES/76/240View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 145 United Nations common system, published in 2021.

What else is in this group?

19 documents · 1992–2025

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2025).

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/236 A-B	United Nations common system resolutions	—	–
2024	A/RES/79/252[B]	United Nations common system	—	–
2024	A/RES/79/252 A-B	United Nations common system resolutions	—	–
2024	A/RES/79/252[A]	United Nations common system	—	–
2023	A/RES/77/256[B]	United Nations common system	—	–

This group bundles related documents that are not individually ordered.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Programme 27	Jointly financed activities	4

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Programme 27	Jointly financed activities	4	—

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

3 reports · 2023–2025

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2025	A/80/310	Data on system-wide compensation costs report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/76/240
2024	A/79/497	Data on system-wide compensation costs report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/76/240
2023	A/78/600	Data on system-wide compensation costs report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/76/240

What subjects does this mandate have?

7 subjects

Coordination Within UN System International Civil Service Mobility and Hardship Allowance Personnel Management Post Adjustment Salaries and Allowances Working Conditions

What’s in this document?

27 operative paragraphs

Takes note with appreciation of the work of the International Civil Service Commission;

Takes note of the report of the Commission for 2021;

Reaffirms the role of the General Assembly in approving conditions of service and entitlements for all staff serving in the organizations of the United Nations common system, bearing in mind articles 10 and 11 of the statute of the Commission;²

²Resolution 3357 (XXIX), annex.

Stresses the independence and impartiality of the Commission in accordance with its statute;

Recalls articles 10 and 11 of the statute of the Commission, and reaffirms the central role of the Commission in regulating and coordinating conditions of service and entitlements for all staff serving in the organizations of the United Nations common system;

Reaffirms the authority of the Commission to continue to establish post adjustment multipliers for duty stations in the United Nations common system under article 11 (c) of the statute of the Commission;

Underlines the importance of the effective and efficient implementation of the new cost-of-living surveys to re-establish a unified common system, stresses the need for regular surveys with changes based firmly on reliable data, including verified external data, and in this regard requests the Commission to complete the current round of surveys as scheduled;

Recalls paragraph 6 of its resolution 74/255 B, expresses concern at the continued application of two concurrent post adjustment multipliers in the United Nations common system at the Geneva duty station, and urges the member organizations of the United Nations common system to cooperate fully with the Commission in line with its statute and to apply a single multiplier per duty station after the cost-of-living surveys are completed in 2022;

Requests the Commission to conduct a study on the feasibility and impact of establishing a separate post adjustment index and General Service salaries for Bern;

Recalls its resolution 75/245 B, and requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Commission, to review the legal expertise available to the Commission and to report thereon at the seventy-seventh session of the General Assembly;

Looks forward to receiving the review of the jurisdictional set-up of the common system at its seventy-seventh session, as requested in paragraph 8 of its resolution 74/255 B and in paragraphs 8 and 9 of its resolution 75/245 B, and invites the Sixth Committee to consider the legal aspects of the report to be submitted by the Secretary-General, without prejudice to the role of the Fifth Committee as the Main Committee entrusted with responsibilities for administrative and budgetary matters;

Recalls paragraph 57 of section III of its resolution 70/244, underlines the importance for the General Assembly to maintain a comprehensive oversight of the common system compensation package and consider its components in a holistic manner, and invites the Commission to undertake a comprehensive assessment and review of the compensation package for the United Nations common system on a five-year cycle, taking into due consideration the previously agreed objectives of the exercise,³ as well as the context both in Member States and in the United Nations common system;

³See Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventieth Session, Supplement No. 30 (A/70/30), chap. VI, sect. A.

Requests the Commission to present, for the consideration of the General Assembly at its eighty-first session, this comprehensive assessment and review of the compensation system, including a detailed analysis on its cost-effectiveness, attractiveness and impact on the workforce and proposals for updating parameters and comparators;

Requests the Secretary-General to provide to the Member States, on an annual basis starting at the seventy-eighth session, comprehensive data on system-wide compensation costs for all staff categories, including all compensation package components,⁴ and in this regard acknowledges the importance of timely submission by the United Nations common system organizations to the Commission of necessary information in order to ensure that the decisions and recommendations of the Commission are based on updated and reliable data, and requests the Secretary-General, in his capacity as Chair of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination, to intensify his efforts in this regard;

⁴As currently reflected in International Civil Service Commission, “United Nations common system of salaries, allowances and benefits”, February 2021.

Requests the Commission to analyse the possibility of using external data for staff expenditure surveys and other pertinent items in the next round of cost-of-living surveys, taking stock of the relevant exercise in the 2022 round, and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session;

Also requests the Commission to conduct a pilot application of external data for salary surveys, taking into account the opinions of all the parties concerned;

Notes the lack of formal guidelines for geographical distribution in 19 member organizations and the high average age of staff members in the United Nations common system, and encourages the Commission to identify good practice and provide advice to common system organizations on ways to promote geographical diversity and rejuvenation, including by measures proposed in paragraph 144 of its report, such as programmes to support internship candidates from developing countries, and notes the Commission’s request to establish clear indicators to track progress in this regard;

Requests the Secretary-General, in his capacity as Chair of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination, to review job classification practices across the United Nations common system and to propose recommendations for ensuring adherence to and consistent application of the classification standards of the Commission;

Invites the Commission to include the issue of multilingualism of the workforce in its programme of work for 2022–2023;

Notes that the Commission will consider the standards of accommodation for air travel and report thereon to the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session;

Requests the Commission to review the scope and parameters of the non-family service allowance, in particular the eligibility of staff without dependants, and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session;

Conditions of service of staff in the Professional and higher categories

A.Base/floor salary scale

Recalling its resolution 44/198, by which it established a floor net salary level for staff in the Professional and higher categories by reference to the corresponding base net salary levels of officials in comparable positions serving at the base city of the comparator civil service (the United States federal civil service),

Approves, with effect from 1 January 2022, as recommended by the Commission in paragraph 24 of its report,⁵ the revised unified base/floor salary scale and updated pay protection points for staff in the Professional and higher categories, as contained in annex II to the report;

⁵Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-sixth Session, Supplement No. 30 (A/76/30).

Requests the Commission to report to the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session on the impact of such revision on the expenditures on post resources for 2022, including separation payments, post adjustment payments and pension contributions from member organizations;

B.Evolution of the margin and margin management around the desirable midpoint

Recalling section I.B of its resolution 51/216 and the standing mandate from the General Assembly, in which the Commission is requested to continue its review of the relationship between the net remuneration of the United Nations staff in the Professional and higher categories in New York and that of the comparator civil service (the United States federal civil service) employees in comparable positions in Washington, D.C. (referred to as “the margin”),

Reaffirms that the range of 110 to 120 for the margin between the net remuneration of officials in the Professional and higher categories of the United Nations in New York and officials in comparable positions in the comparator civil service should continue to apply, on the understanding that the margin would be maintained at a level around the desirable midpoint of 115 over a period of time;

Notes that the margin between net remuneration of the United Nations staff in grades P-1 to D-2 in New York and that of officials in comparable positions in the United States federal civil service in Washington, D.C., for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2021 is 113.3;

Recalls its decision contained in resolution 70/244 that, if the margin trigger levels of 113 or 117 are breached, the Commission should take appropriate action through the operation of the post adjustment system;

Notes the decision of the Commission to continue monitoring the level of the margin and to take the necessary corrective action under the operation of the post adjustment system should the trigger levels of 113 or 117 be breached;

C.Education grant: review of scale and level of the boarding lump sum

Decides, for implementation as from the academic year in progress on 1 January 2022, to maintain the reimbursement rates of the seven brackets and adjust the revised sliding reimbursement scale upward by 14 per cent on the basis of the scale approved by the General Assembly in its resolution 70/244, and to increase the boarding lump sum to the amount of 5,300 United States dollars, and requests the Commission to consider providing a review of the education grant scheme, including detailed analysis of the methodology of the sliding reimbursement scale and the level of the boarding lump sum;

D.Payment of amount in lieu of settling-in grant at category E duty stations that are not designated as non-family

Recalls section III of its resolution 73/273, concerning conditions of service in the field at duty stations with extreme hardship conditions, decides to continue the pilot project of granting 15,000 dollars on an annual basis for staff members who opt not to install eligible dependants in category E duty stations not designated as non-family, and to grant, on a pilot basis, 14,000 dollars on an annual basis for eligible staff members in category D duty stations not designated as non-family until 31 December 2024, on the understanding that the payment will be granted only to the eligible staff members when they physically report to their normal duty stations, and requests the Commission to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-ninth session a recommendation on this payment, based on a thorough review of the impact thereof, including on workforce planning, in different categories of duty stations, including non-family duty stations, and the actual cost to the organizations.

54th (resumed) plenary meeting

24 December 2021

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What else is in this group?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

Conditions of service of staff in the Professional and higher categories

A.Base/floor salary scale

B.Evolution of the margin and margin management around the desirable midpoint

C.Education grant: review of scale and level of the boarding lump sum

D.Payment of amount in lieu of settling-in grant at category E duty stations that are not designated as non-family

Table of contents

Who cites this mandate in the budget?