Requesting a Grading Review

Grading reviews may be requested when permanent and significant changes have been or will be made to an individual’s current role.

If you would like to request a review of grading for a member of your team, please complete the HERA request form. 

If you are a team member who would like to request a review of your grade, please discuss this with your line manager.  

We encourage a collaborative approach to grading review submissions.

It is expected that a large majority of grading review requests will be submitted by line managers. 

If a consensus can not be reached, we will gather evidence from both parties in order to identify role requirements and provide a fair outcome. 

The changes to duties and responsibilities will be reviewed and if significant, the Grading Review process will be applied. 

To ensure parity, an experienced Role Analyst will evaluate the role against the HERA framework.

All scoring and grade outcomes are based on evidence of duties and responsibilities. This in part is provided by the job description. 

To ensure we fully understand role requirements, a Role Analyst (a member of the People Manager team) will review the job description and be in touch to gather further evidence.

To help managers to prepare, please see our HERA competencies guidance, which provides an overview of the questions asked by the HERA framework. 

Once all of the necessary evidence has been gathered, the role will be evaluated and an outcome provided within 5 working days.

The necessary changes to pay and the new grade will be formally confirmed in writing. 

Changes to grading will normally commence from the date the job description is submitted to the People Directorate for review. 

There are times where a HERA panel review may be required to support a robust outcome and ensure parity. 

Managers may wish to request a HERA panel review, following receipt of a grade outcome.  This request will be reviewed by the Reward and Progression Partner and the role reviewed at the next available panel meeting. 

The HERA panel may also choose to review roles where there are complexities, for example in relation to scoring. 

Please note that the HERA panel reviews the technical application of scoring, rather than submissions of new or further evidence of responsibility. 

The panel also completes quality checks on both matching and evaluation work to ensure the provision of robust outcomes that provide parity across the University. 

A line manager or team member may submit a request in writing for a Grading Review outcome to be reviewed by the appeals panel.  

This must be addressed to the Reward and Progression Partner and sent to payandreward@brookes.ac.uk within 10 working days of the HERA panel grade outcome. Please ensure that you detail why an appeal is being requested. 

Colleagues must also discuss this request with their line manager, if they are completing an individual submission.

The appeals panel consists of two fully trained evaluation experts, one nominated by Unison or UCU and the other, by the People Directorate. 

The appeal hearing will be held within 3 months of receiving the formal written request to appeal the outcome.  The date of the panel will be communicated as soon as possible to both the line manager and team member. 

The appellant will also need to provide a written statement that details the competencies and scoring that they wish to appeal.  

This requirement may be adjusted to ensure that all staff are able to access the appeals process. 

Please note that the HERA appeal panel reviews the technical application of scoring, rather than submissions of new or further evidence of responsibility.