A focus on HR and employment law

Our Focus on webinars are a great opportunity to hear from our experts on a range of issues that affect all aspects of school life. Just before half term we held a session to discuss recent developments in employment law and safeguarding. These are important issues, and in light of the recent tribunal decisions, it’s crucial that school leaders are aware of the potential implications.

Long awaited changes to teacher pay

Sandy Smith, HR Advisor, started by outlining the long awaiting changes to teacher pay. In September this year, a 5% pay rise came into effect under the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions guidance in England. Higher increases were also introduced for some parts of the main pay range towards achieving a minimum starting salary of £30,000 by September 2023. The guidance was also updated to reflect the additional bank holiday on 19th September 2022.

The School Teachers’ Review Body on teachers’ and school leaders’ pay looked at the issues that are affecting recruitment, retention and morale in education and have outlined the following priority areas for further review:

• Career paths and pay structures for teachers and school leaders.
• Pay progression, including the appropriate use of performance or capability related pay.
• Teacher shortages, including by subject, geographical area and experience.
• Flexible ways of working to support wellbeing.
• Support for the broader state-school sector, including the academy sector. Career paths and pay structures for teachers and school leaders.

Sandy went on to outline the current Green Book pay negotiations. In June this year, the trade unions submitted a pay claim to demand a substantial increase of either £2,000 or RPI (whichever is greater) on all spinal column points, from 1 April 2022. The employer’s side responded with a pay offer for 2022/23 of:

• A £1,925 increase for all NJC pay points from 1 April 2022.
• An increase in annual leave of 1 day for all employees from 1 April 2023.
• The deletion of pay point 1 from the spine with effect from 1 April 2023.

Unison members have voted to accept the offer, and we await the outcome for Unite and GMB. We will of course be closely following this and will keep you updated.

Significant appeal ruling: Part-time employees

Rachel Clarke, HR Consultant, gave an update on the July appeal ruling in the Harpur Trust Vs Hazel case which affects hundreds of thousands of part-time employees. The Supreme Court ruled that statutory holiday entitlements for a term time only worker should not be pro-rated to that of a full-time worker. This means all part-time and term time workers remain entitled to 5.6 weeks leave as a minimum. How this is calculated is important. For example, if a part-time worker works three days a week throughout the year, their holiday pay will equate to three days x 5.6 weeks, which is 16.8 days leave over the year.

The case shows how important it is to use the correct calculations. We are here to help if you have any questions about any of your own team members.

Significant tribunal ruling: Long Covid

Christine Chesworth, Business Manager for HR Advisory Services, then outlined a couple of major tribunal rulings to be aware of including a case concerning the implications of long covid. In Scotland, a school caretaker won a case for unfair dismissal against his employer after he contracted long covid.  Mr Burke was eventually dismissed on the grounds of ill health in August 2021. However, in a preliminary hearing it ruled that Mr Burke’s long covid did amount to a disability under the Equality Act. You can read the full judgement here.

Keeping children safe in education - key HR changes

Finally, we ran through the key updates to the Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. These include:

• Online search for new recruits.
• All governors to complete safeguarding training.
• Low level concerns policy.
• Continuous vigilance.

As always, if you have any questions about employment issues or just want to get some friendly advice on an HR matter, get in touch with our HR advisory team and we will be happy to help.