What’s the latest?
In June 2023, the APSC sought CPSU feedback on work on specialist arrangements in the APS, including:
- The definition of specialist
- Career pathways
- Support for specialists throughout the employment life cycle.
The CPSU made a submission to the APSC based on the feedback of members’ in a short survey. You can read that submission here.
In 2021 for the first time in almost 10 years, the Australian Public Service conducted a review of the classification system.
The classification structure is important because it affects employees’ pay, career progression, the nature of the work that you do at your level, and your opportunities for development. The CPSU made a submission based on meetings of members across its full APS membership, and also specific sessions with members drawn from:
- Service delivery functions;
- Digital and Information Technology;
- Legal;
Science; and
Graduates and former graduates.
The CPSU submission drew on feedback from that membership engagement. You can read the CPSU submission here.
In August 2022 the Independent Review was published. The report outlined a plan to prioritise work on leadership behaviours and the capability of supervisors and managers. The CPSU welcomed the initial focus on leadership and capability, and the decision not to proceed with changes to the classification structure.
The focus on leadership capability as well as the Labor government’s commitment to restore genuine bargaining in the public service, provides an important opportunity to address some of the issues the CPSU raised in the Hierarchy and Classification Review, including the historical undervaluation of work more likely to be performed by women, First Nations employees, employees with disability, and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, usually performing frontline, service delivery work.
There are also opportunities to create meaningful career pathways for specialists and professionals, including in the critical areas of digital and data. These areas are critical to ensuring the APS has the skills and capability it needs to serve the Australian community now and into the future.
It is encouraging that the APSC has acknowledged the complexity of the more ambitious proposals around classification reform and will consider the approach to those proposals in consultation with CPSU representatives in the future, ensuring you have a strong voice in these changes.
Any changes to the classification structure would be complex, challenging to implement, and would need to come with strong safeguards for staff. Genuine bargaining, and the commitment to negotiate with employees and unions at the service-wide level, provides a great opportunity to achieve positive change and greater equity for public servants through that bargaining process.
You can read the Panel's full report and recommendations on the APSC website here.