Request for information - Ref No: FOI211007
Request
Thank you for your email of 28 April 2021, requesting information from Ordnance Survey in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000, as set out in the extract below:
“We request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act.
- The names of the unions which are signatories to your main collective agreement covering pay and conditions;
- The number of employees covered by the agreement;
- A list of pay grades and current pay rates.
Please indicate any agreed equivalence between the grade names used within the list and the following civil service grades:
- Administrative Assistant (AA)
- Administrative Officer (AO)
- Executive Officer (EO)
- Higher Executive Officer (HEO)
- Senior Executive Officer (SEO)
- Grade 7
- Grade 6
- A copy of your latest pay settlement.
Please provide the following information on how any pay increase has been applied:
-
- Is the paybill increase based on pay guidance set by the Treasury?
- Have there been any changes to the pay scales?
- Are progression payments being paid?
- Are performance-related bonuses being paid? If so, what are the arrangements for performance-related bonuses?”
Our response
I confirm that Ordnance Survey does hold some of the information you have requested. Where the information is not held or exempt from disclosure this is stated. Taking each request in turn, I confirm the following:
1. The names of the unions which are signatories to your main collective agreement covering pay and conditions
Ordnance Survey recognise Prospect and PCS for the purposes of collective bargaining on pay and conditions.
2. The number of employees covered by the agreement
1,229
3. A list of pay grades and current pay rates.
Please indicate any agreed equivalence between the grade names used within the list and the following civil service grades:
- Administrative Assistant (AA)
- Administrative Officer (AO)
- Executive Officer (EO)
- Higher Executive Officer (HEO)
- Senior Executive Officer (SEO)
- Grade 7
- Grade 6
We do not hold information relating to our current career architecture and pay structure as a direct read across in relation to the Civil Service roles listed in your request above.
We consider information relating to our pay rates and grades to be exempt from disclosure under section 43 of the FOIA, therefore, this information will not be disclosed.
Section 43(2) Prejudice to commercial Interests
Under section 43(2) of the FOIA, information is exempt if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person.
In this case, we consider that disclosure of our career architecture and pay structure would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of Ordnance Survey. These structures are used to recruit talent with a competitive salary and motivate existing employees to retain staff with the relevant skills. Releasing this information would provide our competitors with insight into our pay strategy and how we recruit and retain our staff in terms of salary.
This is a qualified exemption, and we are required to consider the public interest.
Public Interest Test
Ordnance Survey recognises the need for transparency. However, this must be balanced against the public interest in allowing the organisation to protect its commercial information and not place itself at a disadvantage in the competitive market in which it operates.
Section 43(2) is a prejudice-based exemption, and there is a public interest inherent in avoiding the harm specified. Ordnance Survey considers that the prejudice would be likely to occur and would involve an adverse effect on Ordnance Survey’s revenues if we were unable to recruit and retain people with the required skills base to perform the necessary functions for OS to operate in a commercially competitive marketplace.
4. A copy of your latest pay settlement.
I confirm our latest pay settlement was the 2019/20 pay review. I confirm we do hold a copy of the pay agreement, however, we are not providing a copy of the information, as it provides details of pay strategy which is used to recruit talent with a competitive salary and motivate existing employees to retain staff with the relevant skills, we therefore consider it to be exempt from disclosure under section 43 of the FOIA, as explained above.
Please provide the following information on how any pay increase has been applied:
a) Is the paybill increase based on pay guidance set by the Treasury?
The 2019/20 pay settlement was not based directly on pay guidance set by the Treasury, but we are mindful of public sector pay policy as set out in our Shareholder Framework Document.
OS applied a 2% salary award and uplift to our pay ranges with effect from 1 April 2020. The distribution of the award was made through a matrix aligned to performance ratings for 2019/20 and pay position under our pay framework.
b) Have there been any changes to the pay scales?
c) Are progression payments being paid?
d) Are performance-related bonuses being paid? If so, what are the arrangements for performance-related bonuses?
The pay settlement for 2020/21 has not been agreed at the current time therefore we do not hold the information in relation to questions b), c) and d) above.
We consider several of the questions you have asked not to be a valid requests for information under Section 8 of FOIA, as they are not asking for information in a recorded format, but instead are a request to find the answer to a question where we do not already hold the information in a recorded form. Where this is the case, we are happy to provide you with the above responses under section 16 of the FOIA, to assist you in this matter. In relation to any future requests, where you are not requesting recorded information, our customer service centre may be better suited to dealing with your enquiry. Visit our 'Contact Us' page on our website for details of how to get in touch.
Internal review
Your enquiry has been processed according to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. If you are unhappy with our response, you may request an internal review with our Internal Review Officer by contacting them, within two months of receipt of our final response to your Freedom of Information (FOI) request, as follows:
Internal Review Officer
Customer Service Centre
Ordnance Survey
Adanac Drive
Southampton
SO16 0AS
Please include the reference number above. You may request an internal review where you believe Ordnance Survey has:
- Failed to respond to your request within the time limits (normally 20 working days)
- Failed to tell you whether or not we hold the information
- Failed to provide the information you have requested
- Failed to explain the reasons for refusing a request
- Failed to correctly apply an exemption or exception
The Internal Review Officer will not have been involved in the original decision. They will conduct an independent internal review and will inform you of the outcome of the review normally within 20 working days, but exceptionally within 40 working days, in line with the Information Commissioner’s guidance.
The Internal Review Officer will either: uphold the original decision, provide an additional explanation of the exemption/s applied or release further information, if it is considered appropriate to do so.
Appeal to Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
If, following the outcome of the internal review you remain unhappy with our response, you may raise an appeal, within three months of receiving our response, with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Further information can be found on the ICO website (ico.org.uk) under ‘Report a concern’ or you may wish to call the ICO helpline on 0303 123 1113.