Threshold progression for consultant grades
The date on which a clinical academic becomes eligible for pay progression is determined by their seniority, and either the date they transferred to the new Consultant Contract or Senior Academic GP Contract or the date on which they commenced as a clinical academic (if this is their first Consultant level appointment). Clinical academics working at Consultant level are advised of their dates for pay progression, known as pay threshold dates, by HR Operations, usually at the recruitment stage.
New clinical academics taking up their post following the new Consultant Contract will become eligible for threshold progression on the date they took up post.
| Threshold | Years completed as a Consultant | Period before eligibility for threshold |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | one year |
| 2 | 1 | one year |
| 3 | 2 | one year |
| 4 | 3 | one year |
| 5 | 4 | five years |
| 6 | 9 | five years |
| 7 | 14 | five years |
| 8 | 19 | n/a |
When a clinical academic becomes eligible for threshold progression by virtue of fulfilling the required number of years' service, the line manager of the clinical academic concerned will make a recommendation to the PVC about whether or not to award the next threshold point.
In most cases, the line manager will confirm that the individual concerned has met the specific criteria for the relevant year and, where applicable, each year since the award of a previous pay threshold.
In some cases a pay threshold may be withheld and deferred for review where one or more of the specific criteria below has not been met.
The specific criteria relevant are as follows:
- An annual Job Plan has been completed and reviewed and signed off by the appropriate representatives of both the University of Exeter and NHS Trust as well as the DPVC of the Medical School; the requirements and personal objectives within the Job Plan have been met;
- a joint yearly appraisal has been conducted in the last 12 months; and
- where private practice is undertaking, that the requirements in the Code of Conduct have been met.
The Dean will take in to account the following factors, which may be relevant:
- Where one or more of the criteria are not achieved in any year, the DPVC (or his/her nominee) will have the discretion to decide, where appropriate, that the clinical academic should nonetheless be regarded as having met the criteria for that year, for instance if the clinical academic did not meet the criteria due to personal illness.
- Clinical academics should not be penalised if objectives have not been met for reasons beyond their control. Employers and clinical academics will be expected to identify problems affecting the likelihood of meeting objectives as they merge, rather than wait until the annual integrated Job Plan review.
- Employing organisations cannot introduce any new criteria. For instance, a pay threshold cannot be withheld or delayed on the grounds of employing organisations to use any system of quota for threshold progression.
- It will be the norm for clinical academics to achieve threshold progression and may only be deferred where the clinical academic has not met the criteria specified above.
Where the PVC has decided in any one year that a clinical academic has not met the necessary criteria, the University of Exeter will defer the award of the pay threshold for one year beyond the date on which they would otherwise have received the pay threshold. On review at the deferred date, provided that the PVC confirms that a clinical academic has met the criteria in the intervening year, the clinical academic will receive the pay threshold from the deferred year, two pay thresholds could be paid from this date.
Example
A clinical academic is due pay threshold point 3 on 1 December 2018 and pay threshold point 4 on 1 December 2019. The clinical academic does not meet the necessary criteria for pay threshold 3 to be awarded from 1 December 2018 and the award is deferred for one year to 1 December 2019. On review the clinical academic meets the criteria and is awarded pay threshold 3 and 4 with effect from 1 December 2019.
It is the expectation that the clinical academic will be awarded the pay threshold in the deferred year. However, where this is not the case a subsequent yearly review will be undertaken and the above approach applied.