Civil Service HEO pay for conservation specialist roles
HEO (Higher Executive Officer) carries delegated technical and casework authority. Most conservation specialist roles in Defra ALBs sit at HEO or above. The grade is the gateway to specialist career-tracks (Senior Adviser, Lead Officer).
HEO conservation role mix
Typical HEO conservation titles: Senior Adviser, Senior Officer, Specialist Adviser, Senior Ecologist, Senior Hydrologist. HEO carries decision-making for site-specific casework (e.g. SSSI consent, licensing decisions, Section 28 notices).
DDaT / STEM specialist allowance
The Civil Service Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) framework and the STEM specialist allowance allow Defra to add £1,500-£3,000 to HEO conservation posts where a market-supplement case is accepted. Ecology, hydrology and GIS are the most commonly approved scarcity skills.
NJC SCP 23-28 cash equivalent
Comparing like-for-like at £35,000 to isolate the pension difference: a Defra ALB HEO's alpha employer cost is £10,140/year (28.97 percent), for a cash-equivalent of about £45,140; a local authority CO's LGPS employer cost is £7,350/year (21 percent), for about £42,350 - a £2,800 gap favouring Defra ALBs on pension alone. Note that an actual NJC SCP 28 Senior CO is paid £39,152 on the 2025/26 NJC spine, above the £35,000 used here, so on real salaries the LA headline pay is higher and the total-reward gap narrows or reverses.