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Salary Bands and Role Descriptions

Date released
27 February 2023
Request number
202302050
Release of information under
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)

Information requested

According to the figures released in October 2022 there are 628 employed by ONR.

  1. Of this figure how many are regulators and how many are support staff?
  2. In 2021-22 how much did ONR pay in salaries (including employer contributions i.e., the overall cost to ONR taking into consideration national insurance, pension contributions, etc.) for staff in regulator roles?
  3. In 2021-22 how much did ONR pay in salaries (including employer contributions i.e., the overall cost to ONR taking into consideration national insurance, pension contributions, etc.) for support staff?
  4. Are all support staff on the same pay structure? If not, what is the justification for this?
  5. How many regulators are on the nuclear safety pay band?
  6. Why does ONR not pay all regulators the same pay like America, Canada and most European countries?
  7. Has ONR ever calculated how much it would cost for all regulators to be on the same pay as those on nuclear safety pay?
  8. If so, what would be the additional annual cost to ONR at the current rate of pay and what is this figure as a percentage of ONR’s overall operating costs?
  9. Please send me the role descriptions for each pay grade in nuclear safety, conventional health and safety, safeguards, transport, security and support staff roles.
  10. In 2021-22 how many staff moved from support roles to regulator roles?

Information released

We confirm that under s.1 of the FOIA, we hold most of the information relevant to your request and have answered each question below in turn.

Please note, as of 31 October 2022 ONR’s staff headcount was 654 and therefore all responses are based on this date unless stated otherwise.

  1. Of this figure how many are regulators and how many are support staff?

    There were 409 regulators and 245 support staff. The 409 regulator roles include regulatory specialists undertaking work within the following disciplines: Nuclear Safety, Security, Safeguards, Fire and Conventional Health and Safety. This is inclusive of those in Band 5 (Degree level apprentices), Band 4, Band 3, Band 3 Equivalence, Band 2, Band 1 and SCS level.

  2. In 2021-22 how much did ONR pay in salaries (including employer contributions i.e., the overall cost to ONR taking into consideration national insurance, pension contributions, etc.) for staff in regulator roles?

    We paid £46,573,104 in salaries for regulatory staff in the 2021-22 period.

  3. In 2021-22 how much did ONR pay in salaries (including employer contributions i.e., the overall cost to ONR taking into consideration national insurance, pension contributions, etc.) for support staff?

    We paid £12,975,241 in salaries for support staff in the 2021-22 period.

  4. Are all support staff on the same pay structure? If not, what is the justification for this?

    The majority of support staff are on the same pay structure (standard) determined by their band. For a minimal number of support staff, they are deployed to IT or Accountant pay ranges due to their specific skillset.

  5. How many regulators are on the nuclear safety pay band?

    We had 313 Nuclear Safety specialists deployed to Nuclear Safety pay ranges. This relates to those in Bands 1 to 3, including those on the Nuclear Safety “Equivalence” pay ranges.

  6. Why does ONR not pay all regulators the same pay like America, Canada and most European countries?

    Our pay is aligned to the UK market rates and within our reward policy.

  7. Has ONR ever calculated how much it would cost for all regulators to be on the same pay as those on nuclear safety pay?

    No, we have not calculated how much it would cost for all regulators to be on the same pay as those on nuclear safety pay.

  8. If so, what would be the additional annual cost to ONR at the current rate of pay and what is this figure as a percentage of ONR’s overall operating costs?

    We do not hold this information.

  9. Please send me the role descriptions for each pay grade in nuclear safety, conventional health and safety, safeguards, transport, security and support staff roles.

    Please find attached generic regulatory role descriptions.

    Within the support areas, the job descriptions are role-specific to the specialisms, i.e., HR, Communications, Finance, etc. and as such, we do not hold generic job descriptions for these roles/grades.

    Whilst we can confirm that we hold a number of role-specific job descriptions for support roles that have been advertised, we do not hold a job description for each individual support role within ONR. It is unclear whether this information is being sought, however under s.16 of the FOIA we have a duty to provide advice and assistance and therefore we would be able to provide you with copies of job descriptions for support roles that have been previously advertised should this be useful to you. Please note in advance that, whilst unlikely, any information that could identify a member of staff would be redacted in accordance with s.40 of the FOIA.

    If this information would be of interest to you, please let us know by way of return. We would kindly ask that you narrow the request to a specific timeframe – i.e., roles that have been advertised in the last 12 months, to ensure that we can achieve this within the compliance limit (24 hours, including the work that has already been carried out).

  10. In 2021-22 how many staff moved from support roles to regulator roles?

    One member of staff moved from a support role to a regulator role during this period.

Exemptions applied

N/A

PIT (Public Interest Test) if applicable

N/A