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Not legal advice. This guide is human-capital preparation only. Companies Act sections 30A and 30B, King V, JSE Listings Requirements, and related remuneration voting or disclosure rules require qualified legal counsel. Divine ICTP supports HC inputs: current grades, pay-band policy framing, and rem narrative coherence. We do not draft statutory opinions, compliance certificates, or substitute for attorneys, company secretaries, or auditors.
Quick answer: RemCo readiness, from an HC perspective, means your grade estate is current, pay bands are documented with named market sources, equal-pay flags are known, and someone owns the rem narrative that links role architecture to policy and implementation. Recent Companies Act remuneration provisions for public companies and state-owned companies raised the stakes for that story — that is buyer context, not advice from Divine ICTP. Use the free RemCo Readiness one-pager for an HC checklist, then engage counsel for statute and AGM process.
What “RemCo readiness” means here
Remuneration committees ask HR and Reward for evidence that pay decisions rest on structure, not improvisation. Structure usually means:
- Jobs evaluated on a recognised framework, with an audit trail
- Pay bands linked to grades and to named, dated market sources
- A narrative that connects architecture → policy → what was implemented
Divine ICTP’s contribution sits in those three layers. We prepare board-ready grading and band packs; we do not practise law or replace RemCo counsel.
Why 2026 sharpened the conversation
For public companies and state-owned companies, Companies Act amendments introduced statutory remuneration policy and annual remuneration report duties (commonly discussed as sections 30A and 30B). Relevant provisions commenced in May 2026. Professional bodies and law firms published practical alerts soon after. King governance expectations on fair and responsible remuneration continue alongside statute and, where applicable, JSE requirements.
That environment creates demand for clean HC inputs. It does not authorise a boutique HC firm to instruct on voting thresholds, strike consequences, or disclosure wording. Point those questions to counsel and your company secretary. Industry guidance (for example SARA’s notes on the new framework) is useful context — and typically carries its own “not legal advice” posture.
Disclaimer restated
Divine ICTP does not provide legal advice on the Companies Act, King V, or JSE Listings Requirements. Engage qualified counsel. Our work product is grading, band-policy framing, and RemCo-readable packs.
The HC inputs RemCo actually needs
1. Grade estate currency
- Which roles are in the evaluation estate?
- When were profiles last refreshed?
- Which framework is in force (e.g. Paterson for many private/SOE/SETA estates)?
- Where are anomalies, acting arrangements, or grade-creep risks?
Note: National and provincial Public Service departments use DPSA’s Compensate–Evaluate system (from August 2024) — not Paterson. Do not assume Public Service grades map one-to-one to a private Paterson table.
2. Band policy clarity
- How do bands relate to grades?
- What midpoint / range-width philosophy has RemCo already approved?
- Which survey source, peer set, and effective date underpin the table?
- Which roles sit outside policy on purpose, and who approved that?
Grades alone do not set rand figures. Bands without survey attribution do not survive scrutiny.
3. Equal-pay and fairness flags
- Roles of equal value with unexplained differentials
- Stale grades used in pay audits
- EE occupational-level mapping (e.g. EEA9 vocabulary) versus framework grades — for HR follow-up, not as a legal opinion
Flag issues for HR/legal follow-up; do not treat a grading pack as an equal-pay certificate.
4. Rem narrative owners
- Who drafts the policy story versus the implementation story?
- Who owns data integrity for highest/lowest, averages, medians, and gap-style metrics where statute requires them?
- How do HC packs hand off to CoSec / counsel / external reward advisers?
RemCo can only defend the pay story it can evidence. Grades and bands are the structure under the narrative — not the narrative itself.
How a board-ready grading pack feeds RemCo
A board-ready job grading pack typically supplies scope, methodology, profiles, grade summary, band framework, committee notes, and a presentation outline. That is the structural evidence RemCo can pressure-test. It is complementary to — not a replacement for — statutory report drafting and legal review.
Field kit
Download: RemCo Readiness one-pager (PDF) HC checklist: grade currency, band policy, equal-pay flags, rem narrative owners, counsel referral. Explicitly not legal advice.
Also download
What Divine ICTP will and will not do
| Will | Will not |
|---|---|
| Human-led Paterson (or recognised-framework) evaluation packs | Legal opinions on ss 30A/30B, King V, or JSE LR |
| Documented pay-band policy framing with named market sources (as scoped) | Publish fee % or invent pay-gap statistics |
| RemCo/EXCO-readable presentation outlines | Claim Peromnes®/T.A.S.K.® delivery (proprietary to their owner) |
| Soft support where client supplies licensed outcomes from other systems | Automate grading decisions or sell survey software |
Practical calendar hygiene for HR and Reward
Without giving legal instruction: keep evaluation refreshes off the critical path of AGM pack production; diary RemCo review of band philosophy before survey extracts go stale; and agree early who owns narrative text versus data tables. When counsel asks for structural underpinnings, have the grading pack and band policy ready — not a scramble of outdated JDs.
Discuss RemCo-ready grades and bands
Divine ICTP · HC inputs for RemCo packs · Not legal advice · Johannesburg
EnquireFAQ
Is this legal advice?
No. Explicitly not. Engage qualified counsel for Companies Act, King V, and JSE matters. Divine ICTP provides HC inputs only.
Do sections 30A and 30B apply to every South African employer?
No. The statutory remuneration policy and report duties discussed publicly apply to public companies and state-owned companies (confirm scope with counsel for your entity). Private companies still face King-style RemCo expectations where they adopt them — again, counsel and governance advisers decide application.
Can Divine ICTP write our remuneration report?
We can supply structural inputs (grades, bands, narrative coherence on role architecture). Statutory report drafting and legal sign-off sit with counsel, CoSec, and your appointed reward advisers — not with this guide.
Is Paterson required for RemCo?
No single JE system is legally mandatory for all employers. Paterson remains common in private, SOE, and SETA settings. Public Service departments on Compensate–Evaluate use a different system. RemCo cares about consistency, documentation, and market link — not brand purity alone.
Where do I start if our grades are stale?
Start with profile refresh and a scoped evaluation cohort — see What’s in a Board-Ready Job Grading Pack and /job-grading/. Parallel: book counsel for statute questions; do not wait for legal advice to begin HC hygiene.