Time to strike up the bands

You’re on file: Changes to the officer promotion system are happening that will affect every officer. Photo by Pte Shannon Joyce, Army newspaper

CHANGES to the way officers’ careers are managed are due to take effect by the end of the month.

CA’s Advisory Committee has endorsed changes to the promotion system. Senior of.cers competing for promotion to brigadier and above will be the first affected when the Personnel Advisory Committee for star-ranked of.cers convenes on February 25.

This new band-based system is designed to provide of.cers with a clearer understanding of their promotion prospects following a PAC. It aims to better align PAC band de.nitions to available positions, align consideration criteria with actual practice, especially following implementation of the All Corps Of.cer Training Continuum (ACOTC), and achieve commonality in procedure and outcomes across all PACs.

It also retains the processes that underpin the current merit-based voting process, which has proven to be both very rigorous and equitable.

What doesn’t change

The new system will not depart radically from that used currently in PAC. Indeed, most policies and corresponding DOCM-A business rules will not change. There will be no change to: PAC composition, cohort and time in rank provisions, the voting method used by PAC members and policies for limited tenure, temporary or honorary promotion. The ability for the chainof- command to raise of.cers for PAC consideration will also remain.

What changes

Outcomes of the new system will be expressed in a way that will be standardised across all promotion PACs. PAC outcomes will be expressed through four bands – 1 to 4. The new band de.nitions are easier to understand and designed to provide as many of.cers as possible with early certainty as to their promotion prospects.

The new bands are:

• Band 1 – Officers likely to be promoted in the current posting cycle.
• Band 2 – Officers suitable, but not likely to be promoted in the current posting cycle.
• Band 3 – Officers performing effectively at their current rank, but not likely to be promoted further, unless there is a need for their specific skill.
• Band 4 – Officers performing effectively at their current rank, but will not be considered further for promotion.

Only suitably qualified candidates will be presented to a PAC. This might sound obvious, but this change will have some important ramifications. Under the new system, and using the PAC for promotion to lieutenant colonel for General Service Officers as an example, only those officers who have satisfied time in rank provisions and are Staff College qualified (PSC) or attending Staff College at the time of PAC will now be considered.

Limits will now be applied to some PAC’s on the number of times that a candidate will be considered. The primary purpose of these limits is to clearly advise officers of their promotion prospects and assist them to realistically manage career expectations.

There will be no limit applied to the number of times that a professionally qualified Specialist Service Officer (SSO PQ) can present to a PAC, thus removing the potential of disadvantaging officers because of restricted promotion opportunities available to SSO (PQ). The main difference in the new system is that SSO (PQ) will only be placed in Band 1 if promotion guaranteed in the coming promotion cycle. There will also be provision to place those officers who are clearly unsuited for promotion into Band 4.

Details of these limits are available on the DOCM-A web site, from career advisers and in information that being passed through the chain of command.

One major consequence of the implementation of the ACOTC is that attendance at Staff College is now clearly a prerequisite for General Service Officers (GSO) to gain promotion to lieutenant colonel.

PAC interviews for promotion to lieutenant colonel will no longer be offered to non-PSC GSO majors. However, DOCM-A personally or one of DOCM-A’s senior staff will now conduct a career review with all officers who have unsuccessfully presented to the Staff College PAC four times.

The aim of this review will be to counsel the officer on the ramifications of non-selection for Staff College, to examine the officer’s profile in detail with a view to assist further consideration for Staff College and to assist in formulating an alternative career path.

Reserve officers will be subject to identical PAC rules and processes as ARA officers. This may cause some short term difficulties for Reserve officers as the ACOTC is implemented; however, the new promotion policy will be implemented pragmatically and sensibly.

A process will be introduced to ensure that of.cers transferring between the ARA and reserve will, if eligible, be considered at the relevant promotion PAC following transfer. This will ensure that all of.cers are considered for promotion at least once in their new career context.

Finally, to ensure transparency and confidence in the new system, all officers who are qualified for promotion but have exceeded automatic re-consideration limits will be presented to the relevant 2005 PAC in order to gain formal PAC recommendation.

This means that each eligible officer will be considered in detail at the 2005 PAC. Officers placed in Band 4 will be advised in writing of this outcome.

More information is available on the DOCM-A web site and direct from career advisers.

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