Individual Contribution Award

Criteria for applying for an Individual Contribution Award - Grades 1-9 

When considering an individual application for a contribution award, the awards panel will be looking for specific evidence of how the application meets the criteria.  The criteria are as follows: 

• Demonstratable evidence of how an employee has consistently gone over and above the expectations of their role to demonstrate excellence, to exceed the roles requirements.  

The statement should be no longer than 4000 characters. 

Please note that the highest scoring applications will be the ones that demonstrate most clearly how exceptionally an employee has met the criteria.  

Additional criteria for grades 8-9 

 For grades 8-9, applicants will also need to provide: 

• Demonstratable evidence of how, when considering the University’s values, an employee has instilled the University values in their role over the past 12 months, as a senior leader at the University   

This section should not exceed 4000 characters.  

Criteria for applying for an Individual Contribution Award - Grade 10 

When considering applications for staff at Grade 10 the panel will be looking for evidence of how the application meets the criteria, which are as follows:  

•  Demonstratable evidence of how an employee has made a sustained excellent contribution and consistently exceeded the principal requirements associated with the role, and/or has gone beyond their role.  
• Demonstratable exceptional positive Leadership (can include project leadership, academic leadership as well as direct line management).  
• Demonstratable evidence of how, when considering the University’s values, an employee has instilled the University values in their role over the past 12 months, as a senior leader at the University    

Criteria for applying for an Individual Contribution Award – Teams 

Line managers can submit an award for a team. The team award will be assessed against the same criteria as an individual award and the awards panel will be looking for specific evidence of how the application meets the criteria.  The criteria are as follows: 

• Demonstratable evidence of how your team has consistently gone over and above the expectations of their roles to demonstrate excellence, to exceed the roles requirements.  

The statement should be no longer than 4000 characters. 

Please note that the highest scoring applications will be the ones that demonstrate most clearly how exceptionally an employee has met the criteria.  

All academic and professional staff that are employed on the University’s pay spine (grades 1-9) are eligible to apply for an individual contribution award.  

All academic and professional staff employed at a grade 10 who are not at the maximum of the salary scale are eligible to apply for a progression increment.  

We encourage that applications be submitted by line managers for members of their team who have exceeded expectations, or who have been pillars of excellence over the past 12 months. Awards are being accepted for Teams who have made an outstanding contribution as a group. Unlike the individual contribution award, the Team award is set at a value of £1000 which will be shared equitably. The University executive may choose to adjust this value should it be deemed necessary to ensure a reasonable award.  

To be eligible for ICA an ECS must have been completed in the last 12 months.  

The process for the annual award is as follows: 

• Applications should be made through the Individual Contribution Award portal which is located in MyAdmin.  However, if you don't have access to a computer, you can download the application form in Word, and submit via email to Academic-promotions@aber.ac.uk 
• Downloadable application form ICA 1 to 9
• Downloadable application form ICA 10
• Applications for grade 1 -7 please ensure that your response is no longer than a side of A4.
• Applications for grade 8-9, please ensure that your response to question 1 is no longer than a side of A4 and Q2 is no longer than 4000 characters. 
• Applications for grade 10 employees, please ensure that your responses are no longer than 500 words for each section. 
• Completed applications will be sent to the Head of Department (or associated executive member if for a HoD) who will be asked to indicate if they support the application and verify the evidence presented. HoDs will have an opportunity to provide additional evidence in support of the application should they wish. If a HoD is not supportive they will be asked to provide justification for their response. 
• The application will then be submitted to the awards panel for consideration.
• If any information is missing the form will be returned to the originator.
• In exceptional circumstances the panel may ask for additional information.
• In subsequent years, further applications may be submitted by the employee or the line manager for a contribution award. 

• The panel will be chaired by Dr Rhodri Llwyd Morgan Director of Welsh Language and External Engagement. 
• Membership of the panel will consist of approximately 5 members, to include a mix of Academic and Professional Services representatives and Trade Union representation (in a speaking observer capacity).
• Applications will be scored based upon the evidence provided by all panel members and an average score collated to determine the highest scoring applicants.  
• The Human Resources department will take responsibility for monitoring the numbers of individual/line-manager submissions from faculty/professional service departments. 

• The outcome of the panel decisions will be confirmed in writing together with any feedback to unsuccessful applicants. 

All panel members are required, if they have not done so already, to undertake a short training session on 'Unconscious Bias' prior to scoring applications. This can be found at Learn Upon or Equality & Diversity Course. 

Applications will be assessed on the strength of evidence submitted on the application form with panel members assessing each application independently in accordance with the range of scores from:- 

Grades 1-7, (scored against 1 criterion with a maximum of 10 points awarded.  The highest score possible is 10 points) 

Grades 8-9 (scored against 2 criteria points with a maximum of 10 points awarded for each.  The highest score possible is 20 points) 

Grade 10 (scored against 3 criteria points with a maximum of 10 points awarded for each.  The highest score possible is 30 points) 

Following the independent assessments, panel members will meet to moderate the scores, and will also make comments in relation to the reason for their score.  These comments may be used as the primary feedback to applicants. 

Once the assessment has been completed, the panel members will agree an overall average score for each application and place in a rank order (from highest to lowest in the three submission types).  The awards panel will then consider how many awards will be made based on the budget available and submit this proposal to the Executive for approval. 

Note - for this year's applications we are awarding on excellence and within a financial envelope.  We acknowledge that many colleagues have been working exceptionally hard, however, this will be a competitive process and only the most exceptional will receive an award. 

The Individual Contribution Award scheme recognises the contributions of  employees at grades 1-9. Individuals can nominate themselves, or Line Managers can nominate the members of their team to recognise their exceptional performance and contribution to the University.  Applications can be made once per year and Line Managers or individuals are required to evidence their contribution against set criteria in accordance with their grade.

Thanks to feedback from colleagues, we have simplified the process, and are encouraging Line Managers to nominate those members of their teams that are exceptional. A proposal was negotiated with Trade Unions for this year, and it was agreed that it would be more equitable to simplify the process. Rewards will be in the form of single non-pensionable bonus payments. 

We will continue to review the process.

Grade 10s receive no automatic increments – unlike those on the grades 1-9 pay scales, therefore have had no opportunities for incremental progression.  Due to this it was agreed with Trade Unions that grade 10s will continue to be awarded with increments which are referred to as ‘progression increments’.

The ICA scheme ran last year, with employees being recognised for the work they undertook in the two years prior to that. We want to ensure that this year we recognise the work undertaken since the last ICA scheme ran ensuring evidence remains recent and relevant to the past 12 months successes. 

We reviewed the outcome and feedback from the last years ICA scheme to make this year’s scheme more inclusive and accessible to colleagues across all grades.

We have simplified the application to one question for grades 1-7 with an additional leadership question for grades 8 and 9.  

This year we are also encouraging Line Managers to submit applications for the members of their team they feel should be recognised for their contributions. Individuals can still nominate themselves, but we would encourage that you do this in discussion with your Line Manager as part of an ECS discussion.  

After reviewing the criteria it was felt that at this level, individuals should demonstrate excellence in leadership and/or management, therefore including this as a required criterion enabled these skills to be properly reflected as being valuable to the University. 

This doesn’t mean that grade 8 and 9 have an advantage – scores within all grades will be averaged to ensure that not one grade can score more highly than another. 

No. There will be a budget envelope, but as all applicants will be considered against the same maximum possible total score, applications will be placed in a rank order depending on their score, with the highest scoring applications receiving an award. 

We want to encourage line managers to submit applications for the staff members they feel have been truly exceptional. Line managers are also able to submit a Team award.  

We are encouraging this as there will be some colleagues who are either unclear whether their achievements meet the criteria of the scheme or who may not feel confident enough to apply even whether they have delivered excellence.  

Where an employee would like to nominate themselves, as in any developmental situation, we expect line managers to constructively discuss the application with their staff and where appropriate help them formulate their achievements into the application form. 

The role of Heads of Department is different: their role is to verify that the application and evidence is accurate. In that process they can also comment on the application itself. 

The panel will be made up of  Dr Rhodri Llwyd Morgan, Director of Welsh Language and External Engagement, Pro Vice Chancellor: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Anwen Jones, Interim Director of Finance, Mark Godsell and Head of Human Resources Services, Sharon Lilley.  A Trade Union member will also sit on the panel in a speaking observer capacity for this year. 

Payment of an Individual Contribution Award – Grades 1 – 9 

The contribution award will be in the form of a single non-pensionable lump sum payment.  Annual salary remains unchanged.  If you are employed on a pro-rata basis, the contribution award will be adjusted accordingly to your Full Time Equivalent (FTE) salary. 

Note: the calculation of the lump sum to be awarded is based on the difference between the individual’s spinal column point (SCP) as at 1 August 2022 and the next spinal column point on the scale.  It is very unusual for an award to be made for the value of two contribution points, and this would be for consideration by the panel for genuinely exceptional performance evidenced against the criteria.             

Payment of a progression increment – Grade 10 

These apply to staff who haven't yet reached the maximum salary point of their grade. Progression increments will be reflected in an increase in monthly pay; this will be effective from 1st August 2023.