Inspector Pay Plan Puts Portugal’s Workplace and Casino Oversight at Risk

Few dossiers stir as much behind-the-scenes emotion in Lisbon as the one that landed this week on the desks of the Finance and Labour ministries: a long-promised overhaul of the inspection careers that keep Portugal’s casinos, online-betting platforms and workplaces in check. The Government says change will boost professionalism and pay; the unions warn it could freeze promotions and erode pay cheques for a decade. What hinges on the talks is nothing less than the day-to-day capacity of the labour watchdog ACT and of the gaming regulator SRIJ to police an economy that is growing, digitalising and facing a chronic shortage of inspectors.

A reform that reaches from the Algarve’s roulette tables to the north-eastern factories

For the public, the headline is simple: the executive intends to revisit the pay grids, supplements and promotion rules for roughly 500 ACT labour inspectors and an estimated several dozen gambling-control officers. But the plan is wrapped inside a broader multi-year accord covering all civil servants, meaning that any bespoke deal for inspectors must dovetail with the blanket rise of one pay step per year—about €56.58 in 2025 and €60.52 in 2027—already written into the central budget. Officials insist that a tailor-made carve-out will come, yet they have pencilled the formal negotiations only for the first half of 2026, a lag that irritates rank-and-file staff who argue that their job is riskier and more complex than most administrative posts.

Government playbook: integrate supplements, slim categories, lock in SIADAP quotas

Although no final blueprint has been lodged, senior sources confirm the executive is leaning toward a unicategory career with a long single ladder and with the current 22.5 % inspection supplement folded into base salary. Proponents claim that would simplify payroll and cushion pensions. At the same time, the Cabinet is reluctant to tamper with the controversial SIADAP performance quotas, arguing that Portugal’s EU peers demand measurable outcomes. A small sweetener—an immediate 5 % uplift in meal allowance starting January—will be offered across the public sector, including inspectors, to keep talks cordial.

Union front: keep the supplement, restore plural ladders, scrap quotas

The Frente Sindical, which groups the STE and FESAP federations, has drawn a red line under three points. First, the supplement must stay outside base pay so that employees do not become "virtual" for up to ten years at the bottom rungs. Second, the career must remain pluricategorical, giving scope for horizontal and vertical progression rather than a single snake-like scale. Third, the unions want an end to imposed quota ceilings that cap the number of top evaluations. They also decry what they call "targets from spreadsheets": the official plan for ACT to visit 10 000 more worksites in 2024 and reach 100 000 extra workers relative to last year, without new hires to match.

Staffing crunch: why numbers matter more than semantics

Even before the reform, both inspectorates are stretched. The ACT’s complement touched a record 493 officers in 2021, but retirements and stalled promotions have since hollowed out teams, according to internal memos. Parliament’s Budget Committee heard this month that the authority would need at least 200 fresh inspectors just to process today’s backlog of complaints in a timely fashion. Over at the SRIJ, a recruitment drive for 30 gambling inspectors launched in late 2024 is still incomplete; meanwhile, gross gaming revenue from online bets grew 9.6 % year-on-year through June, enlarging the pool the state must supervise for money-laundering risks.

The public-finance angle: scoring savings without losing revenue

Behind closed doors, the Treasury worries that any big concession to inspectors will set a precedent for other "unrevised" special careers, from customs officers to environmental police. Yet the same officials concede that under-funding the ACT and SRIJ could prove costlier. Fines and gambling taxes together feed roughly €400 M a year into state coffers; under-staffed audits mean fewer infractions detected, fewer penalties collected and weaker deterrence. The riddle for Finance Minister Inês Domingos is to raise pay just enough to retain talent without lighting a budget bonfire.

What happens next and why Portuguese residents should care

Talks are scheduled to restart in January, but only the drafting of the 2026 State Budget will reveal whether inspectors secure their own salary table or remain chained to general increases. For workers, that outcome influences how rigorously employers are inspected—particularly on overtime and parental-leave rules revamped in the latest Código do Trabalho amendments. For gamblers and casino operators, it determines the pace of licence checks and anti-fraud sweeps. And for taxpayers, it affects a revenue stream that helps finance everything from health-care spending to the digital-transition fund. One way or another, the shape of Portugal’s inspection careers will ripple far beyond the corridors of power.