---
name: job-description-with-uk-gdad-pcf-and-agenda-for-change
description: Use when drafting a job description for an NHS (or wider UK public sector) digital, data, or technology role that needs to combine the UK Government Digital and Data (GDAD) Profession Capability Framework for role content and skill levels with the NHS Agenda for Change job evaluation scheme for banding — e.g. "write a JD for a Band 7 senior data analyst," "turn this DDaT role profile into an NHS job description," or "what band should this GDAD level map to."
---

# Job Description with UK GDAD PCF and Agenda for Change

This skill combines three separate things into one document: a
[[job-description]]'s standard shape, the UK GDAD Profession Capability
Framework's role content, and the NHS's Agenda for Change (AfC) job
evaluation scheme for banding. It's specifically for digital, data, and
technology roles in the NHS (or another public body using AfC) where
the role's *content* comes from one national framework and its *pay
grade* comes from a different, unrelated one.

## Why these two frameworks don't map directly

- **[[united-kingdom-government-digital-and-data-profession-capability-framework]]
  (GDAD PCF)** describes what a role is accountable for and which named
  skills it requires, at which of typically 4–6 levels (e.g. Associate,
  Practitioner, Senior Practitioner, Lead Practitioner, Head of
  Profession). It says nothing about pay.
- **Agenda for Change (AfC)** is the NHS's national pay and grading
  system: **9 pay bands** (Band 1 lowest, Band 9 highest, with very
  senior roles sitting outside AfC entirely), each graded through the
  **NHS Job Evaluation Scheme (JES)** — a factor-based scheme scoring a
  role against 16 factors (communication and relationship skills;
  knowledge, training and experience; analytical and judgemental
  skills; planning and organisational skills; physical skills;
  responsibilities for patient/client care, policy/service development,
  financial and physical resources, human resources, information
  resources, and research and development; freedom to act; physical,
  mental, and emotional effort; and working conditions).

A DDaT/GDAD level is **not** a band. The same "Senior Practitioner"
level can land at Band 7 in one trust and Band 8a in another, because
AfC banding depends on how the specific role scores against JES
factors locally — not on the GDAD level name. Treat any level-to-band
mapping as a starting hypothesis for local job evaluation, never as the
answer.

## How to draft the document

1. **Anchor the content in GDAD PCF.** Identify the profession, role,
   and level in the framework (see
   [[united-kingdom-government-digital-and-data-profession-capability-framework]]
   for finding it). Pull the role summary and named skills at that
   level — these become the job description's Job Summary and Key
   Responsibilities.
2. **Draft the job description shell.** Follow [[job-description]]'s
   standard components: title, directorate/team, reports to, job
   summary, key responsibilities (from step 1), essential and
   preferred qualifications, and location/work arrangement. Add a
   **Band** field, marked "indicative, pending job evaluation" until a
   trust's evaluation panel confirms it.
3. **Build the Person Specification against JES factors.** NHS trusts
   typically require a Person Specification split into Essential and
   Desirable, organized under headings that map onto JES factors most
   panels actually score against: Qualifications, Experience, Skills
   and Knowledge, Communication, and Analytical/Judgemental ability.
   Draw the specifics from the GDAD skill descriptors for that level,
   phrased so an evaluator can score them, not just so a candidate can
   read them.
4. **Get an indicative band, then verify it.** Prefer **profile
   matching** first: compare the drafted role against the trust's
   existing matched national/local job profiles for similar DDaT
   roles, and if it matches closely, that profile's band applies
   directly. Where no close match exists, fall back to **full JES
   scoring**, where a trained job evaluator or panel scores the drafted
   job description itself against the 16 factors to produce a band.
   Either way, the band in the drafted document is a proposal for the
   trust's job evaluation team, not a final answer — never present it
   as confirmed until that process has run.

## Rough, non-binding level-to-band starting points

Useful only as a first guess to sanity-check a draft against — actual
outcomes vary by trust and by how the specific role scores:

| GDAD PCF level | Commonly seen indicative AfC band |
| --- | --- |
| Associate / Assistant | Band 3–4 |
| Practitioner | Band 5–6 |
| Senior Practitioner | Band 6–7 |
| Lead Practitioner | Band 7–8a |
| Principal / Head of Profession | Band 8b–8c |
| Director-level | Band 8d–9 (or outside AfC) |

## Common pitfalls

- **Treating the GDAD level as the band** — the two frameworks measure
  different things; skipping local job evaluation and just declaring a
  band invites an equal-pay or grading challenge later.
- **Person Specification written for candidates, not evaluators** —
  JES panels score against specific, evidenced statements; vague
  language ("good communicator") scores worse than specifics ("briefs
  senior clinical and non-clinical stakeholders on technical risk in
  plain language").
- **No Essential/Desirable split** — collapses the distinction an
  evaluation panel and a hiring panel both need.
- **Copying a GDAD role summary verbatim as the Job Summary** — GDAD's
  wording is written for the framework's general audience across all of
  government, not for a specific trust's team and context; adapt it.
- **Ignoring existing matched profiles** — reinventing a full JES
  evaluation for a role the trust (or NHS nationally) has already
  profile-matched wastes the evaluation panel's time and can produce an
  inconsistent band across similar roles.

## Learn more

- [[job-description]] for the generic document shape and its own
  common pitfalls (requirements-as-wish-list, gendered language, stale
  descriptions).
- [[united-kingdom-government-digital-and-data-profession-capability-framework]]
  for finding a role level's summary and named skills.
- [[performance-review-meeting]] for how the resulting responsibilities
  get used once someone is in the role.