TREASURY GRADING GUIDANCE
This page provides hyperlinks to the guidance on the grading of posts agreed between H M Treasury and the Trades Union Side.
The guidance sets out some broad areas of work on which the various grades are commonly engaged, the characteristic demands of each grade level and the standards to be maintained at each grade level.[1]
The Treasury guidance splits information into two categories: grade descriptions for the administration group and grade descriptions for pay bands 1-5 in professional, technical and specialist occupations covered by PROSPECTs.
Click on the hyperlink below for information about a particular grade / pay band.[2]
Treasury Grade Descriptions
DfT Pay Band Equivalent / Treasury Grade7 / Grade 6
6 / Grade 7
5 / Senior Executive Officer (SEO)
4 / Higher Executive Officer (HEO)
3 / Executive Officer (EO)
2 / Administrative Officer (AO)
1 / Administrative Assistant (AA)
S3 / Senior Personal Secretary
S2 / Personal Secretary
S1 / Typist (S1)
Treasury Grade Descriptions for Professional, Technical and Specialist Staff
Professional and Technical Staff in DfT Pay Band Equivalent / Treasury Grade / Pay Span5 / Characteristics of Span A
4 / Characteristics of Span B
3 / Characteristics of Span C
2 / Characteristics of Span D
1 / Characteristics of Span E
TREASURY GRADING GUIDANCE
Grading Guidance on the Administration Group
· How to use this guidance
· Structural position and shape of the administration group
· Broad areas of work
Job design and job evaluation
· Introduction
· Need for work
· Number of posts
· Job weights
· Organisation of posts
What is the full JEGS process?
The common approach towards organisational analysis
GRADING GUIDANCE FOR GRADES REPRESENTED BY THE IPMS
· How to use this guidance
· Composition of the spans
· Characteristics of Span A
· Characteristics of Span B
· Characteristics of Span C
· Characteristics of Span D
· Characteristics of Span E
· Other useful reading
Grade Description’s
· Grade 6
· Grade 7
· Senior Executive Officer (SEO)
· Higher Executive Officer (HEO)
· Executive Officer (EO)
· Administrative Officer (AO)
· Administrative Assistant (AA)
· Typing Manager
· Senior Personal Secretary
· Personal Secretary
· Typist
GRADING GUIDANCE ON THE ADMINISTRATION GROUP
A. HOW TO USE THIS GUIDANCE
1. This guidance sets out the criteria which should guide the grading of jobs in the Administration Group and the standards to be maintained at each grade level. It is designed primarily for use by those responsible for grading new posts and for monitoring and auditing grading standards.
2. The guidance sets out some broad areas of work on which the various grades are commonly engaged and it describes the characteristic demands of each grade level against factors which have been identified as those which differentiate civil service jobs in qualitative terms. These factors - knowledge and skills, communications, problems etc - underpin the civil service job evaluation scheme called JEGS - Job Evaluation and Grading Support (System).
Grading Jobs
3. There is a range of job function and job quality within each of the five grades in the Administration Group, but particularly at EO Level and above. In terms of job quality there are no gaps between grades. Within individual jobs too, there is commonly a range of work in terms of quality; but as a general rule, the balance of the job quality and thus the appropriate grade, will be clearly apparent, even if some aspects of the work appear more appropriate to the grade immediately above or below. Some jobs will inevitably fall on the border between grades and here it may be necessary to reorganise work to fit jobs better to the allocated grade, remembering that it is generally better to have good jobs at one grade than poor jobs at the next level up.
Applying JEGS
4. Where the correct grade for a job cannot readily be established from this guidance, where grading is disputed, or where a finer definition of job quality is required, jobs can be evaluated using the full job evaluation (JEGS) process. This requires a much more detailed analysis of job demand against the various job evaluation factors. You will be able to do this evaluation yourself if you have the JEGS software package, or Treasury (Job Evaluation and Grading Standards Branch) can arrange it for you.
B. STRUCTURAL POSITION AND SHAPE OF THE ADMINISTRATION GROUP
1. The Administration Group is the largest occupational Group in the Civil Service, responsible for the bulk of the administrative, managerial, executive as well as many specialist functions throughout the range of activities which fall to government departments and the executive agencies. There are five grade levels in the Administrative group as follows:
Administrative Assistant (AA)
Administrative Officer (AO)
Executive Officer (EO)
Higher Executive Office (HEO)
Senior Executive Officer (SEO)
2. There also exists a further grade which attaches to individuals rather than posts The Administrative Trainee (AT)/ Higher Executive Officer: Development HEO (D) grade and its equivalents exist to provide initial training and development for staff considered likely to merit early promotion to Grade 7 and with the potential to reach at least Grade 5. The designation of a post to the AT/HEO (D) grade is a matter for personnel divisions; it is not part of the staff inspectors’ remit to recommend the creation of new posts in this grade. Nevertheless, those posts which do exist are not exempt from the process of staff inspection and, for grading purposes, the work attaching to AT/HEO (D) posts should equate with the more demanding EO/HEO jobs. Members of the grade are required to have passed through a formal selection process. They undergo specified training and development and in the normal way progress directly from AT/HEO (D) to Grade 7.
3. The grade of Higher Executive Officer: Development (HEO (D)) aligns with HEO. Members of the grade are required to have passed through a formal selection process. They undergo specified training and development and in the normal way progress directly from HEO (D) to Grade 7. Members of these grades occupy nominated posts which should satisfy the normal grading arrangements for HEO.
Management Levels
4. Although five grades exist in the structure, there is no obligation and often no need to use every grade in an organisation. The number of management levels should be kept to the minimum necessary and it is not usual or exceptional for grades at all levels in the Administration Group to report to officers two or more grades above their own. It is certainly not a requirement that members of one grade should be managed by or report to a post in the grade (level) immediately above their own.
Entry Arrangements and Qualifications
5. The grades of AA, AO, EO and AT/HEO (D) have been the traditional recruitment grades for the Administration Group (though all grades may also be staffed by promotees from other grades). From 1 April 1993, departments and agencies have been responsible for setting minimum recruitment criteria appropriate for non-scheduled grades (basically those below Grade 7 excluding the fast stream feeders).
6. Historically, entry to the Civil Service has been based on applicants having certain specified education qualifications such as GCEs/GCSEs or their equivalents, supplemented recently by vocational qualifications such as NVQs. This, to a large extent reflected the preference of departments and agencies to recruit school/college leavers coming on to the labour market for the first time.
7. For clerical grades (AA and AO), and more recently for the management grades, additional alternatives have been made available to departments and agencies. For example, or AA work sample tests or suitable experience have been used successfully as recruitment criteria. Recruiters have experimented with competencies coupled with experience or NVQ/SVQ in Business Administration or Management Level 1 or 2 (for AA or AO) and Levels 3, 4 and 5 for managers. These qualifications certify that the holder has achieved the national standards of occupational competence. They are based directly on the standards of performance required in employment.
8. Entry at AT/HEO (D) requires a degree with at least 2nd Class Honours. Entrants are required to pass through the extended selection process of the Civil Service Selection Board (CSSB) and the Final Selection Board (FSB).
9. This manual is not intended to be an authoritative document insofar as recruitment or promotion arrangements are concerned. Accordingly paragraphs 5-8 above are designed to give only a general outline of such arrangements. However, in the grading context, recruitment qualifications should not be confused with formal qualification requirements of individual jobs. A major feature of the Administration Group is its flexibility. It is accepted that grades within the Group are used for accommodating a wide and differing range of government business. In practice therefore no formal qualifications are required for the vast majority of Administration Group posts regardless of grade level.
10. Although by their nature most posts within the Administration Group are “generalist”, in a few areas formal qualifications or specialised skills may be required for specific posts. For example, some posts require qualified accountants who are members of one of the Consultative Committee of Accounting Bodies (CCAB). A growing number of Purchasing and Supply (P&S) posts require either the Civil Service Certificate of Competence in Purchasing and Supply or membership of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply. More notably ADP work represents a formal functional specialism within the Administration Group, where computing skills are required for grades from E0 upwards. Posts graded AA and AO will normally provide the support function for posts within the ADP functional specialism and where this is the case the AA/AO posts themselves frequently but not automatically form part of the functional specialism also. A large number of AOs engaged in Purchasing and Supply work, are pursuing the Certificate of Competence in Purchasing and Supply and occupy posts which are formally part of the Purchasing and Supply function in the department.
Functional Specialism
11. Posts are placed in the functional specialisms because they fall within certain clearly defined areas of work. The functional specialisms which exist at present are Accountancy and Information Technology. The concept of functional specialism allows for greater flexibility in the management of people and the staffing of posts. (Purchasing and Supply is defined as a functiom rather than a functional specialism since the activity is not confined to the Administration Group.)
C. BROAD AREAS OF WORK
1. The wide variety of work undertaken by grades in the Administration Group is reflected in the descriptions for each grade. It will be seen that individual jobs commonly reflect a number of the specific features given in the following paragraphs. In general, the more junior grades are responsible for clerical or operational functions and related management duties. Such functions include the preparation, verification and scrutiny of statistical information and records; the systematic maintenance and retrieval of papers in registries and repositories; casework (within well-defined and often complex regulations, instructions or general practice); dealing with members of the public through correspondence, interview or telephone; answering questions and enquiries on the application of rules or regulations; operating a range of office equipment including computer peripherals. Supervising or managing more junior staff is often a significant feature of the work at EO and HEO grades, but jobs at these levels may equally concern support or advice to senior officers, involving little or no management responsibility.
2. The highest grade in the group (SEO) is also appropriate to a number of different job functions. These include day-to-day conduct of Government affairs within the framework of established policy; management of organisations; detailed casework; investigation, inspection and administrative research (involving judgement, interpretation and the exercise of discretion); contributions to the formulation of policy; personnel and support services; and, possibly the composition or provision of advice to senior civil servants and Ministers. At this level there is often scope for postholders to make significant alteration to the working methods and procedures of an organisation and to have significant impact on a discrete are of business.
3. At EO level and above, jobs can be categorised broadly into the following job types:
CASEWORK
The application of regulations to and adjudication on individual cases.
COMPUTERS
Systems design and analysis and programming.
COMPUTER (OPERATIONS)
All activities associated with the management and operation of computer installations including data control and data preparation.
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT
General management such that found in regional and local offices and management of large clerical processing operations.
FINANCE AND ACCOUNTS
Accounting, local financial and monetary policy, all types of accounts work, i.e., cost and management accounting, cash, payroll and accruals accounting, cash flow management, and financial appraisal.
GENERAL ADMINISTRATION AND POLICY
Formulation of policy, forward planning and general administration, legislation and economic advice.
MANAGEMENT SERVICES
Office services and functions concerned with the application of management services techniques such as audit, O&M, work measurement, organisational and job analysis and evaluation.
PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
Personnel policy and all aspects of personnel management.
PROCUREMENT
Covers every activity (including policy) involved in obtaining all goods and services from third parties, together with sales of related products, including the planning, sourcing and negotiation of purchases, and related activities such as: quality control and assurance, expediting, warehouse and distribution operations.
4. The headings are indicative not exhaustive. Many jobs will contain a range of functions and elements of them will therefore lend themselves to classification under more than one of the headings given above. Except in individual circumstances where it makes organisational sense and is efficient, specific functions should not be seen as the sole province of one grade or another (within Executive Grades or outside them). The Service does not subscribe to demarcation. This can mean that for the sake of efficiency, duties which might in greater volumes seem to be more appropriate to other occupational groups or organisations can properly be attached to the Executive Grades.