Sorry Michael,
I was working on finding a fix and realized that this issue was internal error from our end.
We had used the same titles for “Achievement types” and also the “Achievements” within the achievement types. This led to a confusion and basically I was looking for “Required steps” under the achievement “type” when it should really be under the specific “achievement” (hope I’ve not confused anyone). That still does not explain why users were not getting the award when awarded directly from admin panel. I am assuming it may have been due to conflict between duplicate titles.
I’ve got rid of all the duplicate titles and posts so everything is working fine now.
Thank you very much for your prompt attention.