4. Payments in addition to key remuneration components

The following section provides information on payments that are not discussed in the preceding sections on Base Salary, Total Remuneration Package or Total Reward. They are reflective of situations outside the standard parameters and include remuneration data for taking on higher or additional duties
and payments specific for geographical locations and particular hardship.

4.1 Acting classification

The data on acting classification salary is a snapshot of employees on duties at a higher or lower classification group for a consecutive period of 90 days or more as at 31 December 2014. That is, the employee had been performing acting duties ongoing since at least 3 October 2014.

Acting classification salary has not been included in any of the key remuneration component reporting. Note: acting duties may be performed with payment for shorter periods, but this information has not been collected.

There were 12,096 employees, or 8.7% of the workforce, reported to be acting on temporary assignment to a different classification level and had been performing the acting duties for at least 3 months or more. This has increased from 2013 when 9,354 employees, or 6.2% of the workforce, were reported
to be acting on temporary assignment to a different classification level.

The values shown in Table 4.1 are the salaries paid to employees undertaking acting duties. The median values, when compared with the Base Salary (see Table 2.1) shows that the acting salaries tend to be between the 5^th percentile and Q1 values. It demonstrates that employees undertaking higher duties tend to receive salaries at or near the bottom of the higher classification salary range, as would generally be expected.

Table 4.2 shows the number of APS employees who were performing acting duties by the acting level and their substantive classification. This table also provides data on employees on temporary assignment at a lower classification level to their base classification.

4.2 Geographic/locality allowance

Table 4.3 provides data for a cluster of allowances which relate to a particular locality or geographical region. These are variously described across agency enterprise agreements. Examples of such allowances include: disturbance allowance, district allowance, remote localities assistance, leave fare
and overseas allowance. It excludes disability related allowances such as location-specific hardship allowances: see Section 4.3.

For all classifications, 6.8% of APS employees received a geographic or locality allowance in 2014; 9.2% of the SES workforce and 6.8% of the non-SES workforce.

From Table 4.3 the classifications with the highest proportion of employees receiving a geographic/locality allowance in 2014 were the Graduate and APS 3 classifications. This is consistent with 2012 and 2013 findings. The APS 4 and APS 6 classifications had the lowest proportion of employees in receipt
of geographic/locality allowances.

The Graduate and APS 3 classifications had the lowest median of allowances received. The SES 3 classification had the highest median. This is consistent with the 2013 findings.

The median and average amounts paid in geographic/locality allowances decreased for 4 of the classifications from 2013 to 2014.

4.3 Disability allowance

Disability-related allowances are intended to address specific instances where an employee may need to work in circumstances where they are subject to specific discomforts and/or difficulties. These allowances may be applied for situations both within Australia and overseas and may be location and/or
duty specific. Examples of disability allowances include, but are not limited to: duty at sea, hardship, inspection and certification of dangerous goods, marine crew accommodation, self-contained breathing apparatus, Southern Ocean operations training and working conditions allowances.

In 2014, 3.6% of APS employees received a disability allowance.

Table 4.4 shows that non-SES classifications have lower proportions of employees in receipt of disability allowances compared to SES. Excluding APS 3, the proportion of employees in non-SES classifications that received such an allowance ranged from 1.2% of APS 2 employees to 4.7% of the APS 5 workforce.
In contrast, the SES levels ranged from 6.1% of SES 1 employees to 9.2% of the SES 3 workforce.

The lowest median disability allowance was $272 at the Graduate classification. The highest median disability allowance of $43,395 was at the SES 3 classification.

Particular hardship locations, including overseas, have contributed significantly to the amounts paid.

4.4 Additional duties/responsibilities allowance

The additional duties/responsibility allowances include, but are not limited to, First Aid Officer, Fire Warden and Workplace Health & Safety Officer allowances. Additional duties data does not include higher duties or partial higher duties. For information on higher duties, see Section 4.1.

The classifications which tend to have additional duties that attract an allowance are at the APS 5, APS 3 and APS 6 levels, in order of the classification with the highest proportion of employees who received such an allowance. The non-SES classifications with the lowest proportion of employees who
received additional duties allowance in 2014 were the Graduate and EL 2 classifications.

The proportion of the whole workforce that received an additional duties allowance in 2014 has decreased from 8.8% to 7.7%.

The additional duties at the SES classifications are a reflection of the need in some agencies for SES level employees to be available at all times to take on additional duties at times of crisis. This is more likely to occur in agencies with a presence overseas.

The median amounts paid were generally consistent across all non-SES classifications. This may be a reflection of enterprise agreement provisions providing allowances of similar value for the additional duties, based on the duty not the classifications. The range of amounts paid for an additional duty
varies depending on the nature of the additional duty. For example, First Aid Officer and Fire Warden duties attract a lesser amount compared to Use of Force allowance. However First Aid Officer and Fire Warden duties are more numerous and hence represent the values at P5, Q1, median and Q3 in Table
4.5.

Overall, the average amounts paid reduced slightly in 2014 when compared with 2013.