Close
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’ professional experience, 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. ’Award’ means either a one-off non-consolidated and non-pensionable lump sum payment or a consolidated and pensionable salary increase.
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 the organisational 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.
Banding on recruitment
5.4. If the job is not a new one, provided that there are no major changes in the organisational structure or in the role’s responsibilities, it will automatically be assigned to the band of the last role holder. Where the job is a new one, it should be allocated to a band through the process outlined in 5.3.
5.5 The salary range advertised should take account of that band, the external salary for similar positions and the salaries of other staff undertaking similar UCL roles. Mark Rice or Senay Yaman Zucker in HR (m.rice@ucl.ac.uk & senay.zucker@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.
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 London and Southeast. 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. Reward decisions for SPS staff will take place following a regular and consistent timeline- which allows better benchmarking between cases. Each year the contribution of SPS staff in the previous period will be reviewed by Directors as part of the appraisal process. Following appraisal, G10 staff should be rated as either:
- Performing exceptionally - Consistently exceeding stretching objectives and demonstrating UCL ways of working
- Performing to a high level, in line with expectation -Performance is at a high level and meeting objectives and expectations whilst demonstrating UCL ways of working (this will apply to the majority of staff)
- Performance is not satisfactory and has not met objectives and expectations- Staff will need to be moved to a more frequent review cycle and consideration given to the capability procedure being instigated.
7.2 As with other senior staff there is no automatic salary progression for SPS staff beyond any agreed national pay award. This is different to the situation for staff in grades 1-9 where there are a series of automatic progression points. It is important that there is a mechanism for G10 staff to be recognised and rewarded for exceptional contributions to UCL. In April-May each year the reward team will write to Deans and Directors of PS Divisions launching the SPS pay review cycle. This communication will include current salary positioning of their SPS staff, relevant external market benchmarking for their role and a headline view of the normal proportion of staff who should typically be considered for additional reward.
7.3 In May-July each year SPS staff who have been rated as Performed exceptionally - Consistently exceeding stretching objectives and demonstrating UCL ways of working, may be considered by Deans or Directors (as applicable) for a pay award- in addition to receiving any agreed national awards. The level and type of award will be determined by a combination of factors, namely relative to 1) the contribution and Ways of Working applicable to Grade 10 demonstrated at the last appraisal and 2) the salary positioning of the employee, both internally and externally. Where the salary positioning is high against the comparators, lump sum, rather than consolidated, awards may be recommended.
7.4 Any form of award decision is discretionary and there is no guarantee that awards will be paid in any year to all or any SPS staff. The level of award will also take account of UCL budgetary and equal pay considerations. Deans and Directors of PS Divisions should determine the awards in their area, taking advice from the Reward team. Any agreed pay awards will normally take place from October, concurrent with any awards for senior academic staff.
Please contract Mark Rice or Senay Yaman Zucker if you have any questions about this process.
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.
