<p>Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) staff are rewarded individually, with salary increases being based on how staff have performed throughout the year relative to their peers, and their salary in comparison to the market benchmark for their role.</p><p> </p><p>The distribution of civilian employees below the Senior Civil Service who were eligible for the 2018 pay award against each of DE&Sâ five performance ratings is set out in the table below:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Performance Rating</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Proportion of DE&S Staff</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Exceptional</p></td><td><p>11%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Very Good</p></td><td><p>21%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Good</p></td><td><p>40%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Moderate</p></td><td><p>19%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Performance Improvement Required</p></td><td><p>9%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Staff rated âPerformance Improvement Requiredâ did not receive an increase in pay and those with a rating of âModerateâ received a flat 1%. Larger awards were given to those staff with the highest performance ratings, and dependent upon the relative position of their salary to the benchmark for their role.</p>