Hera helps to close pay gap

Your account of the work to introduce equal pay missed an important point ("Pay still linked to length of service", 11 September).

The Higher Education Role Analysis (Hera) process is a highly effective approach to solving the problems of equalising pay grades in a gender-neutral way - as has been recognised by its users, who make up the vast majority of higher education institutions.

How much time they invest in the process is up to them. Each university is different, with varying challenges and internal cultures. But nothing worthwhile was ever quick.

Of course, there are alternatives. And we welcome competition. But Hera was designed for higher education by higher education, and its use can be tailored directly to the needs of individual institutions.

Overall, a thorough approach saves time and money by ensuring that painstaking work does not need to be redone. It also provides the platform for the further modernisation of human resources practices, and we are working closely with our members to make full use of the money that is invested in clarifying roles.

That's why Hera will play a key part in helping to close the pay gap and introducing other ways of promoting equality of opportunity in higher education. That's why we are the market leader. And that's why we are recognised as having the best product of its kind.

Margaret Dale, Chief executive Educational Competences Consortium, providers of Higher Education Role Analysis.