Grading Assessment Procedure

General Provisions 
Application by the Institute Director/Head of Professional Service Department to re assess the grade of a post 
Application by an employee to regrade their post
Grading Assessment Appeal Panel 
Policy Review 
Equality Impact Assessment 
Grading Assessment Procedure Form

1. General Provisions

1.1 This document aims to inform staff of the procedure to be followed when requesting the regrading of a role as a result of a change in duties or responsibilities.

1.2 This procedure applies to staff employed on a Contract of Employment issued by Aberystwyth University covered by the Framework Agreement.

1.3       Regrading of roles can also occur as a result of restructures or academic promotions* and fall outside this procedure. 

1.4  Any change in grade will be effective from the date of the decision of the Post Approvals Group (PAG) to change the grade.  The member of staff must not be asked to undertake additional responsibilities until a decision on the request has been made.

1.5        The grading assessment process may be initiated in one of two ways: 

  • By the Faculty PVC/Head of Professional Service Department (PVC/HOPSD) (as in section 2 below) or
  • By a member of staff (as in section 3 below)
    • An application for the grading assessment of any role will normally be considered only once in a rolling 12 month period.
    • Non-permanent allocation of additional responsibility (for periods up to 12 months) are dealt with under the Acting Up & Responsibility Pay Policy

2. Application by the Faculty PVCs/Head of Professional Service Department to re assess the grade of a post

2.1 Faculty PVCs/Heads of Professional Service Departments who wish to propose that an employee should take on permanent and on-going responsibilities which are in addition to the present role profile or job description are required to make a proposal on the Grading Assessment Form and receive a determination (Appendix 1) prior to allocating the additional responsibilities.  

2.2  The appropriate Pro Vice-Chancellor will consider the request and provide their agreement in principle for the role to be assessed.  If agreement in principle is not given, the process ends and the PVC/HOPSD is informed by the HR department of the outcome.  Where the employee is aware of this request, the PVC/HOPSD should then inform the employee that their role remains unchanged.

2.3  If agreement in principle is given, an assessment of the grade on the basis of the revised job description or role outline form, detailing the additional responsibilities and/or duties will be undertaken by the HR Department. The Grading Assessment Form, current and revised job descriptions should be submitted to the Employee Services Team who will arrange for the post to be analysed under the Higher Education Role Analysis (HERA) process to determine whether the additional responsibilities have any impact on grade. The analysis should take into account which role profile would be most appropriate for the revised role. If the scoring does not indicate a higher grade the PVC/HOPSD will be informed.  Where the employee is aware of this request, the ID/HOPSD should then inform the employee of the outcome including their right of appeal and clarify their role and responsibilities and why these are in line with their current grade.

2.4  If scoring indicates a higher grade, the appropriate Financial Accountant will be asked to comment on the financial implications of the proposal.   The request will then be submitted to the Post Approvals Group (PAG) for consideration.  The outcome of PAG’s decision will be notified to the PVC/HOPSD by the HR Department.  Where the employee is aware of this request, the ID/HOPSD should then inform the employee of the outcome.  Any change of job description, role profile or grade will result in the HR Department issuing change of contract documentation to the employee.

3. Application by an employee to regrade their post.

A member of staff who feels for any reason their post is wrongly graded, should complete a Grading Assessment Form and send it to their Faculty PVC/Head of Professional Service Department (PVC/HOPSD) giving details of the new responsibilities as their role has evolved. (See* for exceptions)

  • If the PVC/HOPSD indicates their support in principle for the application they must agree with the employee the proposed new role profile/job description. The application process outlined in Sections 2.1 – 2.4 should then be followed.  
  • If a change in role profile/job description cannot be supported or agreed by the PVC/HOPSD the employee will be notified and the process will end.
  • Where the application has not been supported or agreed the PVC/HOPSD will provide an explanation and clarify with the employee their role and responsibilities and why these are in line with their current grade.

4. Grading Assessment Appeal Panel

4.1 An appeal can only be submitted once a new role profile/job description has been HERA assessed.  If, as part of the above process, a member of staff disagrees with the outcome of the grading assessment of their post they should write to the

Director of Human Resources within 7 working days of being notified of the decision. 

The HR Director will then arrange for an Appeal Panel to be convened to scrutinise the assessment of the grade.

4.2 An Appeal Panel will consist of four individuals drawn from a pool of HERA trained panellists. The university will appoint two management representatives from this pool and the trade unions will appoint two trade union representatives from this pool to each panel. At least one management representative and one trade union representative must have experience of sitting on a grading appeal panel. The process will be managed by the HR Department. The panel should consist of members with a range of experience and competencies to understand the role.

4.3 The panel chair will be appointed from within the panel and, in addition to being a full panel member, will act as rapporteur.

4.4 A trade union which is not represented in the membership of an appeals panel may, if it wishes, send an observer to such a meeting. The observer will also be provided with a copy of the role profile/job description. All observers must be members of the trained pool of panellists.

4.5 Members of appeal panels will not have been involved in the case in question and will be required to declare potential conflicts of interest as they arise. In the event of a material conflict of interest, the panel member should be replaced. Panellists should not be drawn from the member of staff’s institute/service department.

4.6 Human Resources will be in attendance at all HERA grade assessment panel meetings in an advisory capacity.

4.7 The role of the appeal panel is to HERA assess the new role based on the role profile/job description provided to them by the HR Department.  No new information should be provided for the appeal stage.

4.8  The appeal panel will individually score the role profile or job description in advance of the panel meeting.  At the panel meeting, the panel will review the criteria and rating for each of the 14 elements and agree a final assessment.  

4.9  Following an appeal, if scoring indicates a higher grade, the process from Section 2.4 should then be followed. The member of staff must not be asked to undertake additional responsibilities until a decision has been made by the Post Approvals Group.

5. Policy Review

5.1 The Grading Assessment procedure will be reviewed at least once every three years. Such reviews will be to ensure that the policy remains compliant with legislation and good practice.

6. Equality Impact Assessment

6.1 The University is committed to embedding the Equality Scheme into its policies, procedures and practices and this policy/procedure has been equality impact assessed.