Last Updated: August 14, 2026 Reading Time: 8 min

The White House has until August 31 to send Congress its 2027 pay plan, and the budget proposal on the table says 0% for civilians. Most feds arguing about the freeze on Reddit have one thing wrong: a pay freeze stops the pay table from moving. It does not stop you from moving through the table.

What a Freeze Actually Freezes

Two things, and only two things:

  1. The General Schedule table. The annual percentage adjustment that would lift every cell of the grid goes to zero. The 2026 dollar values stay put.
  2. Locality percentages. The alternative pay plan can hold locality rates flat, which is exactly what happened for 2026: most workers got 0% locality change.

Everything else in the pay system keeps running. The freeze does not move you backward, does not stop you from advancing steps, does not block promotions, and does not change how promotion pay gets set. During the last real freeze, OPM's guidance (CPM 2010-24) spelled out the exclusions: promotions, within-grade increases, quality step increases, performance awards, and premium pay all continued.

For what a freeze costs you in forgone raises, our companion piece runs the grade-by-grade damage: 2027 Federal Pay Freeze: The GS-Grade Impact. This post is about the other side of the ledger, the money that keeps arriving.

Your Step Increase Survives: The Dollar Table

Step increases run on their own statute, 5 U.S.C. 5335. The law even says the annual adjustment is not an "equivalent increase," meaning the two systems never touch. Your WGI clock ticks on waiting periods: 52 weeks for steps 1-4, 104 weeks for steps 4-7, 156 weeks for steps 7-10. When it completes with a Fully Successful rating, you move up. About 999 in 1,000 employees get theirs.

That movement is worth real money in a 2027 freeze year, computed from the 2026 GS base table (which a freeze would carry into 2027 unchanged):

Grade Step move Base now Base after Gain per year Gain per month
GS-7 4 → 5 $47,417 $48,854 +$1,437 +$120
GS-9 4 → 5 $58,001 $59,759 +$1,758 +$147
GS-11 4 → 5 $70,176 $72,303 +$2,127 +$177
GS-12 4 → 5 $84,110 $86,659 +$2,549 +$212
GS-13 4 → 5 $100,018 $103,049 +$3,031 +$253
GS-12 7 → 8 $91,757 $94,306 +$2,549 +$212
GS-13 7 → 8 $109,111 $112,142 +$3,031 +$253

FedTools computation from the OPM 2026 GS base table. Locality percentages apply on top of these base figures.

The freeze does not shrink these numbers. The gain is the gap between two cells of the frozen table, and both cells hold still.

One honest caveat: Congress can reach step increases if it passes a law that says so explicitly. Rep. Darrell Issa proposed exactly that amendment in February 2011. It failed, and the fact that he needed a separate amendment is itself the proof that a general freeze doesn't touch WGIs.

Promotions and the Two-Step Rule Keep Paying

A promotion is a personnel action, not a pay-table adjustment. In a freeze year the two-step promotion rule works exactly as always: take your current rate, add two within-grade increases of your old grade, and land on the lowest step of the new grade that meets or beats it.

Worked example on the frozen table. A GS-12 step 5 earns $86,659. Add two GS-12 steps ($2,549 each) and you need at least $91,757. GS-13 step 1 pays $90,925, not enough. GS-13 step 2 pays $93,956. That's the landing spot: a $7,297 raise, up 8.4%, in the middle of a freeze.

Career-ladder employees (the GS-7/9/11 pattern) keep climbing too. Ladder promotions require your agency to process the action and you to meet performance requirements, so they're expected rather than automatic. But the freeze itself does not bar them, and OPM listed promotions as excluded in 2011.

The August 31 Deadline, Without the Reddit Version

The statute (5 U.S.C. 5303) requires the President to transmit an alternative pay plan to Congress "before September 1," which makes August 31 the last permissible day. Last year's letter arrived August 28. As of today, no 2027 letter has been sent.

The claim circulating on r/fednews says that if the deadline passes, FEPCA's default kicks in automatically, roughly 3.1% base plus large locality adjustments, and the President can't stop it. That's overstated. What's true: the default formula would become the operative rule on paper. What's missing: the December executive order is the instrument that actually sets January's pay rates, the statute preserves residual administrative pay-setting authority, and no administration in FEPCA's 30-plus-year history has ever missed the deadline, so no court has ever ruled on the collision. Treat the missed-deadline scenario as an untested legal question, not a payday.

What you should actually watch for: the letter landing in the last week of August, and the final executive order in December. We update the 2027 raise tracker the day each one lands.

Who Else Keeps Moving in a Freeze

Special-rate employees. IT, cyber, and nursing schedules are set separately by OPM and can move independently of the GS table.

Law enforcement. LEO special base rates run on their own track. In 2026, LEOs received a 3.8% locality adjustment in a year most feds got zero.

Outstanding performers. Quality step increases, the extra step for a Level 5 rating, continued through 2011-2013 and would continue in 2027.

Retirees-to-be. Your high-3 counts your actual basic pay, including any step increase or promotion that lands during the window. A freeze only hurts the high-3 you were projecting from future across-the-board raises. Run both versions in the High-3 Calculator before you commit to a 2027 date.

Find Your Own Number

Look up your current step and the one above it. The difference is what a freeze can't take from you. Use the free GS Pay Calculator to see your exact step rates with your locality applied.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a pay freeze stop my step increase?

No. WGIs run under a separate statute, continued through the 2011-2013 freeze per OPM's own guidance, and would take separate legislation to stop.

How much is my next step worth in a freeze year?

The exact gap between your current step and the next one on the frozen table: $1,437 a year at GS-7, $2,549 at GS-12, $3,031 at GS-13, before locality.

Can I still be promoted during a freeze?

Yes. Promotions are personnel actions and the two-step rule still governs the pay setting. A GS-12 step 5 to GS-13 promotion pays $7,297 more per year on the frozen table.

If the August 31 deadline is missed, do we get the FEPCA raise automatically?

The default would become the operative rule on paper, but the December pay order is what actually sets rates, and the deadline has never been missed. The collision has never been tested in court.

Did anyone's pay actually rise during 2011-2013?

Yes, constantly. Steps, promotions, and QSIs all continued. Only the table froze.

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