---
title: "Guide: Pay spines, points, and grades"
slug: "guide-pay-spines-points-and-grades"
updated: 2026-06-10T11:18:59Z
published: 2026-06-10T11:18:59Z
canonical: "help.cintra.co.uk/guide-pay-spines-points-and-grades"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.cintra.co.uk/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Guide: Pay spines, points, and grades

Pay spines, points, and grades are key tools for managing employee pay in Cintra iQ. Grades define pay structures across roles, while pay spines and points allow for incremental progression within those grades. For example, each grade can cover one or multiple spine points, with each point representing a specific salary value. This structure is commonly used in sectors like local authorities and the NHS, making it easy to manage pay increases and ensure fairness across your organisation.

The articles on this page explain how to set up pay spines, manage grades, and apply spine point increments to employees, helping you keep your pay structure clear and consistent. For more information, see What are grades and pay spines?

### Setting up

- [Create an addition heading to attach to an individual spine point](/iq/docs/how-do-i-create-a-spine-point-addition)
- [Create an addition heading to attach to an employee post](/iq/docs/how-do-i-create-a-spine-point-via-post-addition-heading)
- [Set up spine points](/iq/docs/how-do-i-set-up-pay-spines)
- Increase spine point values manually:
  - [How do I manually increase spine point values?](/iq/docs/how-do-i-manually-increase-and-backdate-spine-point-values)
  - [How do I import spine point values in bulk?](/iq/docs/how-do-i-import-spine-point-values-in-bulk)
- [Import spine point values in bulk](/iq/docs/how-do-i-import-spine-point-values-in-bulk)
- [Automatically add spine point increments to a payroll](/iq/docs/how-do-i-apply-spine-point-increments)

### Applying

- [Manually assign spine points to posts](/iq/docs/how-do-i-assign-spine-points-to-employee-posts)
- [Add spine points to grades](/iq/docs/how-do-i-add-a-spine-point-to-an-individual-employee-s-grade)
- [Move an employee to the next spine point in a grade](/iq/docs/how-do-i-move-an-employee-to-the-next-spine-point-on-a-grade)