Ahead of the Game: Blueprint for the Reform of Australian Government Administration was released in March 2010. Recommendation 6.2 proposed:

a review of the size, capability and work level standards for each level of the Senior Executive Service (SES), before any new net growth in the SES occurs.

The context for this review was the substantially faster rate of increase in SES compared to total Australian Public Service (APS) employment, in the absence of effective APS wide classification standards and strong central oversight. The purpose of the SES Review was to establish whether this relatively faster growth rate is justified and, if not, to recommend corrective action.

The Review of the SES was led by Mr Roger Beale AO.

A comprehensive Review of the Senior Executive Service report was provided by Mr Beale to Government in March 2011. The full report can be accessed via the link to the side of this page.

Government considered and agreed to most of the recommendations of the Report in December 2011, including:

• That the SES cap, which sets an approved maximum number of SES for each APS agency, will continue for a further five years, to the end of 2016, with a review of the cap to be conducted after three years (in 2014) to evaluate its operation, including whether or not the cap should continue in place for the full five years.
• That APS-wide SES work level standards developed through the Review should be finalised and their use made mandatory in the evaluation of SES classifications. The final SES work level standards are available via the link to the side of this page.
• That agency heads would be required to undertake evaluations of all existing and new SES roles by December 2014 to ensure all roles are appropriately classified.
• Before a new SES role, or an SES role that becomes vacant, can be filled, the agency head will be required to have the role evaluated against the SES work level standards.

The Report also recommended that the Commission develop and issue a simple methodology for evaluating SES roles against the work level standards and a workbook to guide agencies in its use. This has been done, and the Commission has provided a significant amount of training to agency HR practitioners on the methodology and how it should be applied. The SES Evaluation Methodology Guidelines and Workbook can be accessed via the link to the side of this page.