Contract staff in the civil service

More than 1 million civil contract staff are now employed in the civil service (state, local authorities, hospital sector), where they occupy a significant but poorly identified position. The trend increase in their number, three times faster than that of the incumbent staff between 2010 and 2017, addresses both the flexibility needs of the administrations and the difficulties identified in the use of incumbent staff. In practice, the management of contracts in the civil service is gradually approaching that of incumbents, at the cost of stiffening their conditions of recruitment, remuneration or career. While a reform aims, inter alia, to facilitate their recruitment, the Court makes five recommendations aimed at better organising co-existence between incumbent and contract staff.