I have to endorse point 7 of Wizads post - if MACC was at Swanwick, you would get Band5 pay. Whether it was justified is another matter... there are validations in Swanwick which do not compare to some of the other Band5 validations.
They are mainly approach validations, as the quieter area validations tend to be a second, unpaid for and as far as Minimum Unit Requirement is concerned, unrequired validations.
We do have some people who do one non-core sector - often because that was the only training seat available at the time and they are waiting to train on a core sector as a second validation, though sometimes because that is all that the person is capable of. Is that right - of course it's not. Is it right that those people without Minimum Unit Requirements should be OJTIs? Of course it isn't if its down to ability. Unfortunately due to weak management, it does happen.
I know that the quietest sector at Swanwick will be way quieter than the busy ones at Manchester or Scottish, but banding is based on core validations (or was supposed to be).
As for general traffic levels and complexity, I'm afraid that friends I know who have been valid at Swanwick and West Drayton who have since transferred at their request have all said that the overall mix of complexity and traffic levels is less at their new unit. Not one has said otherwise.
It's not a willy waving contest, if you search all my posts you will see I agree that the way banding has been worked out is wrong, though I do believe in the principle of it - understandably, it's the people at the lower bands who complain about the pay of those above them - thats human nature, but in a very simplistic way, why should we all be paid equal when we have such a wide range of workload levels?
Back to the real issue of this thread - is there any truth about Mahabas 1st claim re sitting on promotions? If so have the union been involved? If not, why not?