Recruitment of a contract staff member in the territorial public service (FPT)
Verified 26 August 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
Are you wondering how contract staff are recruited in the territorial civil service? The cases in which local and regional authorities may recruit contract staff are listed by law. The duration of the contract (fixed or indefinite) depends on the reason for recruitment. We present these conditions.
Jobs in each community or territorial institution are created by deliberation.
The deliberation shall specify the grade, or possibly the grades, corresponding to the job created.
The decision shall state whether the post may be filled by a member of the contract staff. In this case, it shall state the reasons for the possible use of a member of the contract staff, the nature of the duties, the levels of recruitment and remuneration of the post created.
The use of a contractor is possible in the following cases:
Accessible jobs
You may be recruited as a contractor on permanent employment where the needs of the services or the nature of the duties so warrant and where no territorial official has been recruited.
The employment may be category A, B, or C.
The job offer is published on the website Choosing the public service. It states that employment is open to contractors.
Duration of contract
You are recruited in CSD: titleContent of Maximum 3 years.
Your contract is renewable up to 6 years total.
If your contract is renewed after 6 years, it can only be renewed by DTA: titleContent.
When you are recruited, if you already have 6 years of public service in the same hierarchical category as the job you are recruited for, you are directly recruited on a permanent contract.
If, before the end of your fixed-term contract, you justify 6 years of public service in the same hierarchical category, you and your employer community can conclude a new contract by mutual agreement.
If you decide not to enter into this new contract, you will remain in office until the end of your current contract.
If, at the time of your recruitment, you are linked by CDI to a local authority or public establishment or administration or a public administration or establishment of the State or a public hospital establishment, in functions of the same hierarchical category, your contract may be concluded for an indefinite period.
Counting of services for a transfer to a DTA
The 6-year period shall be counted taking into account all services performed in the following jobs or occupied for the following reasons:
- Lack of a territorial civil servant job cadre to perform the required functions
- Recruitment justified by the nature of the duties or the needs of the services
- Employment of a municipality with less than 1 000 inhabitants or a group of municipalities with less than 15 000 inhabitants
- Use of a new municipality resulting from the merger of municipalities with fewer than 1 000 inhabitants
- Non-full-time employment with working hours of less than 17 hours 30 hours per week
- Employment of a municipality of less than 2 000 inhabitants or a group of municipalities of less than 10 000 inhabitants whose creation or removal is necessary for the community or establishment
- General secretary of town hall of a municipality of less than 2 000 inhabitants
- Replacing a temporarily absent agent
- Temporary vacancy pending recruitment of a territorial official
- Temporary or seasonal increase in activity.
The six-year period must have been completed in full with the same local authority or public establishment.
The services performed as staff provided by the management center are taken into account if they were performed with the community or institution that recruits you.
Non-full-time and part-time services shall be treated as full-time services.
Services performed on a discontinuous basis are taken into account, if the duration of the interruption between 2 contracts does not exceed 4 months.
For the calculation of the duration of interruption between 2 contracts, any period of health emergency is not taken into account.
Accessible jobs
You can be recruited as a contract worker on a permanent job in the following communities and institutions:
Community or institution | Jobs available to contractors |
|---|---|
Municipality of less than 1,000 inhabitants | All jobs |
Grouping of municipalities with less than 15 000 inhabitants | All jobs |
New municipality resulting from the merger of municipalities with less than 1,000 inhabitants | All jobs (for 3 years after the creation of the new municipality or possibly until 1er renewal of municipal council) |
Municipality of less than 2,000 inhabitants | Employment the creation or removal of which is necessary for the community or establishment |
Office of Mayor Secretary | |
Grouping of municipalities with less than 10 000 inhabitants | Employment the creation or removal of which is necessary for the community or establishment |
Duration of contract
You are recruited in CSD: titleContent of Maximum 3 years.
Your contract is renewable up to 6 years total.
If your contract is renewed after 6 years, it can only be renewed by DTA: titleContent.
When you are recruited, if you already have 6 years of public service in the same hierarchical category as the job you are recruited for, you are directly recruited on a permanent contract.
If, before the end of your fixed-term contract, you justify 6 years of public service in the same hierarchical category, you and your employer community can conclude a new contract by mutual agreement.
If you decide not to enter into this new contract, you will remain in office until the end of your current contract.
If, at the time of your recruitment, you are linked by CDI to a local authority or public establishment or administration or a public administration or establishment of the State or a public hospital establishment, in functions of the same hierarchical category, your contract may be concluded for an indefinite period.
Counting of services for a transfer to a DTA
The 6-year period shall be counted taking into account all services performed in the following jobs or occupied for the following reasons:
- Lack of a territorial civil servant job cadre to perform the required functions
- Recruitment justified by the nature of the duties or the needs of the services
- Employment of a municipality with less than 1 000 inhabitants or a group of municipalities with less than 15 000 inhabitants
- Use of a new municipality resulting from the merger of municipalities with fewer than 1 000 inhabitants
- Non-full-time employment with working hours of less than 17 hours 30 hours per week
- Employment of a municipality of less than 2 000 inhabitants or a group of municipalities of less than 10 000 inhabitants whose creation or removal is necessary for the community or establishment
- General secretary of town hall of a municipality of less than 2 000 inhabitants
- Replacing a temporarily absent agent
- Temporary vacancy pending recruitment of a territorial official
- Temporary or seasonal increase in activity.
The six-year period must have been completed in full with the same local authority or public establishment.
The services performed as staff provided by the management center are taken into account if they were performed with the community or institution that recruits you.
Non-full-time and part-time services shall be treated as full-time services.
Services performed on a discontinuous basis are taken into account, if the duration of the interruption between 2 contracts does not exceed 4 months.
For the calculation of the duration of interruption between 2 contracts, any period of health emergency is not taken into account.
Accessible jobs
Non-full-time jobs with a weekly working time of less than half-time (17.30 hours) may be filled only by contract staff.
The employment may be category A, B, or C.
The job offer is published on the website Choosing the public service. It states that employment is open to contractors.
Duration of contract
You are recruited in CSD: titleContent of Maximum 3 years.
Your contract is renewable up to 6 years total.
If your contract is renewed after 6 years, it can only be renewed by DTA: titleContent.
When you are recruited, if you already have 6 years of public service in the same hierarchical category as the job you are recruited for, you are directly recruited on a permanent contract.
If, before the end of your fixed-term contract, you justify 6 years of public service in the same hierarchical category, you and your employer community can conclude a new contract by mutual agreement.
If you decide not to enter into this new contract, you will remain in office until the end of your current contract.
If, at the time of your recruitment, you are linked by CDI to a local authority or public establishment or administration or a public administration or establishment of the State or a public hospital establishment, in functions of the same hierarchical category, your contract may be concluded for an indefinite period.
Counting of services for a transfer to a DTA
The 6-year period shall be counted taking into account all services performed in the following jobs or occupied for the following reasons:
- Lack of a territorial civil servant job cadre to perform the required functions
- Recruitment justified by the nature of the duties or the needs of the services
- Employment of a municipality with less than 1 000 inhabitants or a group of municipalities with less than 15 000 inhabitants
- Use of a new municipality resulting from the merger of municipalities with fewer than 1 000 inhabitants
- Non-full-time employment with working hours of less than 17 hours 30 hours per week
- Employment of a municipality of less than 2 000 inhabitants or a group of municipalities of less than 10 000 inhabitants whose creation or removal is necessary for the community or establishment
- General secretary of town hall of a municipality of less than 2 000 inhabitants
- Replacing a temporarily absent agent
- Temporary vacancy pending recruitment of a territorial official
- Temporary or seasonal increase in activity.
The six-year period must have been completed in full with the same local authority or public establishment.
The services performed as staff provided by the management center are taken into account if they were performed with the community or institution that recruits you.
Non-full-time and part-time services shall be treated as full-time services.
Services performed on a discontinuous basis are taken into account, if the duration of the interruption between 2 contracts does not exceed 4 months.
For the calculation of the duration of interruption between 2 contracts, any period of health emergency is not taken into account.
You may be recruited as a member of the contract staff on a permanent post to replace an official or a member of the contract staff who is part-time or absent for any of the following reasons:
- Detachment less than 6 months
- Availability less than 6 months
- Secondment for the completion of a traineeship or a period of schooling prior to establishment or for preparation for a competition
- Leave (sickness, maternity, parental, etc.)
The employment may be category A, B, or C. The job offer is published on the website Choosing the public service.
The contract shall be concluded for a fixed period. It may take effect before the departure of the agent to be replaced.
The contract may be renewed by express decision, within the limit of the period of absence of the member of staff replaced.
You may be recruited as a contractor on a temporary vacancy on a permanent basis pending the recruitment of a territorial official.
The employment may be categoryA, B, or C. The job offer is published on the website Choosing the public service.
The contract shall be concluded for a fixed period of up to one year.
It may be extended up to a total period of two years if, at the end of the one-year period, the recruitment procedure for the post concerned by an official has not been successful.
You can be recruited as a contract contractor on a non-permanent job to deal with a temporary or seasonal increase in activity.
The total duration of the contract and any renewals may not exceed 6 months during a period of 12 consecutive months to cope with a seasonal increase in activities.
The total duration of the contract and any renewals may not exceed 12 months during a period of 18 consecutive months to cope with a temporary increase in activities.
The job offer is published on the website Choosing the public service. It states that employment is open to contractors.
Accessible jobs
You can be recruited as a contractor on a permanent job when there is no employment framework territorial officials to carry out the functions sought.
The employment may be category A, B, or C.
The job offer is published on the website Choosing the public service. It states that employment is open to contractors.
Duration of contract
You are recruited in CSD: titleContent of Maximum 3 years.
Your contract is renewable up to 6 years total.
If your contract is renewed after 6 years, it can only be renewed by DTA: titleContent.
When you are recruited, if you already have 6 years of public service in the same hierarchical category as the job you are recruited for, you are directly recruited on a permanent contract.
If, before the end of your fixed-term contract, you justify 6 years of public service in the same hierarchical category, you and your employer community can conclude a new contract by mutual agreement.
If you decide not to enter into this new contract, you will remain in office until the end of your current contract.
If, at the time of your recruitment, you are linked by CDI to a local authority or public establishment or administration or a public administration or establishment of the State or a public hospital establishment, in functions of the same hierarchical category, your contract may be concluded for an indefinite period.
Counting of services for a transfer to a DTA
The 6-year period shall be counted taking into account all services performed in the following jobs or occupied for the following reasons:
- Lack of a territorial civil servant job cadre to perform the required functions
- Recruitment justified by the nature of the duties or the needs of the services
- Employment of a municipality with less than 1 000 inhabitants or a group of municipalities with less than 15 000 inhabitants
- Use of a new municipality resulting from the merger of municipalities with fewer than 1 000 inhabitants
- Non-full-time employment with working hours of less than 17 hours 30 hours per week
- Employment of a municipality of less than 2 000 inhabitants or a group of municipalities of less than 10 000 inhabitants whose creation or removal is necessary for the community or establishment
- General secretary of town hall of a municipality of less than 2 000 inhabitants
- Replacing a temporarily absent agent
- Temporary vacancy pending recruitment of a territorial official
- Temporary or seasonal increase in activity
The six-year period must have been completed in full with the same local authority or public establishment.
The services performed as staff provided by the management center are taken into account if they were performed with the community or institution that recruits you.
Non-full-time and part-time services shall be treated as full-time services.
Services performed on a discontinuous basis are taken into account, if the duration of the interruption between 2 contracts does not exceed 4 months.
For the calculation of the duration of interruption between 2 contracts, any period of health emergency is not taken into account.
You can be recruited by project contract to perform an identified project or operation.
The project contract shall be concluded for a minimum duration of one year and one maximum duration of 6 years.
It may be renewed to complete the project or operation, up to a total duration of 6 years.
Where the contract is concluded for a period of less than 6 years and the planned project or operation is not completed by the end of the contract, the contract may be renewed up to a maximum of 6 years.
The project contract shall end with the completion of the object for which it was concluded, after a period of advance notice.
It may, however, be terminated by decision of the employer's administration after a minimum period of one year if the project or operation for which it was concluded cannot be carried out.
If you have a disability, you can, under certain conditions, be recruited on a permanent job such as contract on a fixed-term basis, then tenure.
The employment may be category A, B, or C.
You can be recruited as a contract worker on a job as a maternal assistant.
Your contract is for a fixed or indefinite period.
You can also be recruited as a contractor on a job family assistant.
You can be recruited as a contractor on a permanent job under the Career pathways in the public service (Pact) if you are in one of the following 2 situations:
- You have between 16 and 28 years, you are without a diploma or professional qualification or have a qualification below the baccalaureate
- You have at least 45 years, are long-term unemployed and touch it RSA: titleContent or thespecific solidarity allowance (SSA) or Disabled Adult Allowance (DAA).
The Pact provides for access to category C job, i.e. a job usually open to persons holding a BEP, CAP or college certificate.
The purpose of the Pact is to enable you to acquire, by means of training in alternation with your professional activity, a qualification related to your job or the diploma required to access the body to which your job belongs.
The duration of your contract cannot be less than 12 months, or over 2 years.
Your contract may be renewed for a maximum of one year if you fail the evaluation tests of your training and do not obtain the qualification, title or diploma provided for in your contract.
At the end of your contract, you are eligible to become a tenure holder and become a public servant.
You can be recruited as a contractor on one of the following functional managerial posts:
- Director-General of Services and Deputy Director-General of Services of Departments and Regions or Communities exercising the competencies of Departments or Regions
- Director-General for Services, Deputy Director-General for Services and Director-General for Technical Services of Municipalities with a population of more than 40 000 and of Public Intercommunal Cooperation Institutions with a population of more than 40 000
- Director-General of public establishments whose characteristics and importance justify it.
The contract shall be concluded for a fixed period.
Your appointment to one of these positions does not result in your tenure in the territorial public service or, at the end of your term, its renewal as a term.
You can be recruited as a contractor on a job of cabinet assistant.
The contract is for a fixed term.
Your duties shall end at the latest at the same time as the term of office of the territorial authority which recruited you.
Appointment to a cabinet post does not entitle a person to be established in a grade of the territorial civil service.
You can also be recruited as a contractor to perform the duties of elected official in the following communities:
- Municipality of more than 100,000 inhabitants
- Departments
- Regions
- Urban communities with more than 100,000 inhabitants
- Urban communities with more than 100,000 inhabitants.
The contract is concluded for a fixed term for a maximum of 3 years, renewable, within the limit of the electoral mandate of the deliberative assembly concerned.
The performance of the duties of a member of a group of elected representatives or a group of delegates is incompatible with permanent employment in a local authority. It does not confer any right to tenure in a grade of the territorial civil service.
The contract is renewable by express renewal, up to a maximum of 6 years.
At the end of the 6-year period, if your contract is renewed, it can only be renewed by express decision and for an indefinite period.
General conditions for access to public posts
General conditions of access to public employment: FPT-specific provisions
Recruitment by contract: general provisions
Contract recruitment possibilities: Articles L332-8 to L332-14, L332-21, L332-23, L332-27 to L332-28
Territorial contract staff recruited for specific posts
Senior posts in the territorial civil service
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