Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the procedure is in his Department for assessing grade boundaries and job roles; and how often such assessments take place.

Grades across the Civil Service are defined by job weight, which is a measure of a job’s complexity and responsibilities. Job weight in the Department of Energy and Climate Change is determined by a job evaluation system called JESP (Job Evaluation for Senior Posts) for the senior Civil Service (SCS) and JEGS (Job Evaluation & Grading Support) at grades below SCS.

A formal JESP evaluation should be undertaken where:

· a new post is created and the pay band is not obvious

· an existing post changes significantly, raising doubt about the pay band

· posts are on the boundary of different pay bands

· posts are subject to a grading review

• a pay banding decision is disputed.

DECC has not undertaken any formal JESP assessments in the past 12 months.

Grade boundaries and job roles for staff below the SCS are initially assessed by reference to the Department’s grading guidance. Before advertising a new or existing post the recruiting manager should assess the grade of a post using the guidance. Any changes to the grade of a job role must be authorised in local business area by senior managers.

JEGS is only formally used when the appropriate grade cannot be clearly determined by reference to the grading guidance. In most cases, roles will fall readily into a grade on this basis.

No central records are held of local grading assessments. One formal JEGS assessment has been carried out within the last 12 months.