Salary-setting process

Written by Claude Haiku 5.5 from the extracted text on 14 Oct 2026. It can miss or misread redacted and scanned pages. Check the source before relying on it.

This FOI release comprises internal Department of Finance emails from March to May 2026 and draft forms concerning salary setting and accelerated pay point advancement for staff, including SES-level approvals. In late March 2026, the First Assistant Secretary, Corporate Division, announced a second-stage review for accelerated pay advancements, citing recent examples warranting greater scrutiny, and from 1 April 2026 out-of-cycle salary requests were to be referred to the Chief People Officer (CPO) in addition to existing HR delegations. Staff raised concerns about pushback from clients and SES, and the CPO sought a change to the delegation. Draft "Salary Setting on Engagement, Movement or Promotion" request forms were prepared, with debate over whether CPO approval should precede delegate approval, since business areas often negotiate salaries before referral. Staff noted this may require behavioural change and updated delegations and policy.