The Invisible Majority: Statement

29 October, 2026

AHEP Consulting and ECC (Educational Competencies Consortium) share an interest in promoting fair and equitable reward practice across higher education.

Following discussion of respondents’ views and the report’s recommendation in The Invisible Majority relating to job evaluation, HERA and sector pay equity, both organisations welcome the opportunity to add to the conversation started by this report.

ECC commissioned an independent review of HERA job evaluation, completed earlier in 2026, which included research with scheme users. ECC reports that the review concluded the scheme remains fit for purpose in the context of changing roles and circumstances and made suggestions for future development. One of these was for more worked examples of specialist roles. ECC continues to develop its guidance and resources as part of its ongoing programme of improvement. This includes supporting trained role analysts by further expanding the scheme’s existing range of examples covering professional, specialist and technical roles.

In considering the relationship between HERA and pay equity, it is important to distinguish job evaluation from the range of wider processes that determine pay. HERA provides an analytical framework for evaluating the relative demands of roles and produces a score. It does not determine the salary paid to the person working in a role. Institutions decide how those scores are used within their own grading structures and what pay attaches to each grade. Pay outcomes for roles are also influenced by other factors, including market supplements, progression and wider reward policies.

AHEP Consulting and ECC agree that a meaningful examination of pay equity across higher education would need to consider all the factors that influence pay outcomes, including job evaluation itself. Both organisations see value in further work, including independent academic research, to improve understanding of pay equity and inform practice across the sector.

The two organisations have different views on some of the report’s conclusions about HERA, but both welcome continued discussion of these issues and the wider challenges facing professional and support staff in higher education.

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