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Senior Professional Staff Pay Policy.

1. Purpose

1.1. The purpose of this policy is to outline the method of determining pay for senior professional staff at UCL.

2.  Scope

2.1. This policy applies to senior professional services roles which have been evaluated as being Grade 10.

3. Policy

3.1. UCL is one of the world’s leading universities and intends to reflect that standard in the quality of its professional services. This requires the ability to recruit and retain capable and excellent people from any appropriate market – not just higher education, and to reward them for the work they do.

3.2. UCL also expects to be a fair employer, providing pay which relates to individuals’ responsibilities and contribution. UCL aims to be competitive in the market and provide a supportive working environment with access to professional development.

4. Definitions

4.1. 'Manager' means the line manager of senior professional services staff. 'Senior professional services staff' means staff in support staff posts which have been evaluated at being at Grade 10 using the Higher Education Role Analysis (HERA) Scheme.

5. Procedures

Pay Bands & descriptors

5.1. To enable external market comparisons and to ensure effective treatment of internal relativities, senior professional services (SPS) jobs are managed in four broad pay bands. These bands have been developed on the basis of a broadly common level of know-how, problem solving and accountability in each band. Bands are defined by reference to descriptors (see appendix) which outline the representative accountabilities, knowledge, skills and experience of jobs in each band as well as the critical differentiators between each band.

5.2. Existing jobs have been allocated to bands on the basis of an assessment of the job against generic descriptors for each band, and confirmed by checking relativities with other jobs in the same band.

5.3. If there are major changes in structure or in the responsibilities of a SPS job, its banding will be reviewed. In this situation managers will undertake an initial assessment of the appropriate band and salary for a job and HR will confirm or adjust the band recommended by the manager, in consultation with the manager, on the basis of an assessment of the relativities between SPS jobs. The Vice-Provost (Operations) will determine the appropriate band for a SPS job on the basis of advice from a manager and HR.

Banding on recruitment

5.4. If the job is not a new one it will automatically be assigned to the band of the last role holder. The range advertised should take account of that band and the salaries of other staff undertaking similar UCL roles. Mark Rice, Reward Manager in HR (m.rice@ucl.ac.uk) should be consulted and will be able to provide advice on the band range, any market factors and comparability issues which may influence the salary advertised and offered. Where the job is a new one, it should be allocated to a band through the process outlined in 5.3.

6. Pay structure

6.1. The pay for each band has been set mainly with reference to the industrial and service labour markets (public and private sector) base salary median for London1. UCL will monitor the market for jobs of similar size and the pay ranges will be adjusted to take account of any agreed national pay awards. To accommodate a wide variety of specialist skills, backgrounds and contributions, each band offers the flexibility to operate below or above the external market median.

6.2. UCL will also monitor the higher education market (for university-specific roles) periodically to ensure that its rates of pay for SPS staff are competitive within the sector.

7. Pay reviews

7.1. SPS staff will receive a base salary within the allocated band for their job. SPS staff who have demonstrated sustained outstanding performance against a stretching set of objectives may be considered for a pay award in addition to receiving any agreed national awards. However there is no guarantee that awards will be paid in any year to all or any grade 10 staff. This decision will take account of UCL budgetary and equal pay considerations. Pay awards proposed by managers will normally require the approval of the Vice-Provost (Operations) on the advice of HR. Please contact Mark Rice in the first instance.

8. Market Pay

8.1. Salary issues outside performance, related to specific market forces (i.e. external offers to staff in strategically important jobs) should continue to be addressed via the UCL Market Pay Policy .

9. Monitoring and Review

9.1. Equal pay audits will be conducted on a regular basis to ensure that there are no unjustifiable pay gaps. This policy will normally be reviewed every two years.

10. Appendix- Band Descriptors

 

HR Policy and Planning
September 2014

1 according to advice provided by HayGroup Consultants.