With recent updates to employment law and the newly released Employment Rights Bill 2024 it is prudent that those in the education sector keep up to date with any upcoming developments to ensure your school is compliant and to allow you to provide the highest quality of care to your employees.
Published last Month (10th October), the Employment Rights Bill provides an extensive update to the current employment law landscape. The Bill which is a mighty 158 pages long is set to have a significant impact on all employers , including schools. In this article, we will explore a few of these aforementioned developments, and the impact of these for those in the education sector.
Changes:
Perhaps the greatest change to be introduced under the new legislation, is the granting of day one unfair dismissal rights and the introduction of a statutory probationary period. Changing the current law which provides the right to claim for unfair dismissal to those with a minimum of two years’ service, to granting the right from day one of employment is estimated to see 9 million more individuals being eligible to this right.
In response to this, the government have announced the introduction of a statutory probation period wherein employees will be granted some protection to dismiss unsatisfactory hires without the risk of an unfair dismissal claim. While the introduction of a statutory probation period will bring some security, it is likely that this will not apply to all dismissals. All dismissals resulting from redundancy is likely to be one such area.
Ahead of these changes, you and your school should look to review their current work practices to ensure they reflect these developments.
The banning of zero-hours contracts has been an area of key focus for the new government. Labelled as exploitative and having “one-sided flexibility”, zero-hour contracts have long been under scrutiny. New laws will give employees a contract that reflects the number of hours regularly worked and reasonable notice of any change in shifts or working time, with compensation that is in proportion to the notice given for any shifts cancelled. These new laws look to end “one-sided flexibility” and seek to provide all workers with a baseline of security and predictability. However, this may have deep impacts for the education sector.
Within the education sector, there may be many individuals employed on a flexible, casual basis. These could include those employed during exam periods, music teachers employed on a casual basis or staff brought in to cover absences. Under new legislation, schools will be required to review current contracts and policies and make sure all are compliant.
This follows changes earlier this year to the way irregular and part-year workers receive holiday pay. “Irregular hours” workers would include someone who’s hours are variable during any pay period and “part-year” workers would include those who are only required to work during specific periods of the year such as term time only staff. The laws set out that these types of workers are to be entitled to rolled-up holiday pay, which is to be calculated by applying an uplift of 12.07% to a worker’s pay for work done in each pay period.
The huge changes to the way employers should handle support staff require schools to amend current policies and procedures. Highlighting those that may be affected by the upcoming changes is a great way of staying ahead of the curve and keeping your school and staff protected.
Abolished in 2010, under new legislation, the new Government plans to reinstate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSNB). The SSNB will be made up of representatives of employers, unions and an independent chairperson and will be tasked with ensuring support staff receive fair pay and have access to training and career progression opportunities. To ensure all school support staff have access to fair pay and conditions, the SSNB will support staff for both local authority-maintained schools, Academies and Multi-Academy Trusts. Secondary legislation is to be expected setting out definitions for “support staff” and thus setting out categories of staff excluded from it. As support staff make up over half of the school workforce, ensuring you are up to date on the latest developments concerning their employment is crucial for ensuring your business stays compliant.
The numerous changes to how schools should deal with support staff raises questions over staffing costs. The changes set out above coupled with the newly released School Teachers pay and Conditions Document 2024 which will see a rise of 5.5% to all pay, allowance ranges and advisory points back dated from 1st September 2024, runs the risk of creating a precarious financial situation for the Education sector. This could potentially lead to schools having to introduce redundancies as a way to keep costs down. We will, however, have to wait and see what these changes will look like in practice and the true effects they will have.
Following updates to flexible working in April 2024, wherein the right to flexible working became a day one right for employees and workers, the new Bill will provide further requirements for employers to provide greater detail as to why any flexible working requests are denied.
The new Bill will also see the granting of further family friendly rights to employees from day one of employment. These will include Paternity Leave, Parental Leve to name a few. Bereavement Leave will also be extended to anyone who suffers a bereavement.
These developments are likely to require changes to be made to current flexible working and family friendly policies.
The Employment Rights Bill 2024 will remove the current waiting period which sees employees being granted Statutory Sick Pay from the fourth day of absence and ensure that it will be paid from day one of sickness. The new Bill will also see the removal of the lower earnings limit so that very low earners will qualify for Statutory Sick Pay. This will inadvertently see costs for absent employees rising.
“fire and rehire” has been used by employees over the years as a way to implement changes in contractual terms where employees have been otherwise unwilling to agree to vary their entitlements. Under the new Bill, any dismissal will be automatically unfair if the principle reason for dismissal is either that the employee refused to agree to a variation to a contract or to allow the employer to hire another person under new terms but with substantially the same duties. Now, dismissing and offering to rehire on new terms will only be allowed as part of a restructuring process when there is genuinely no alternative to keep the employers operation viable.
These new developments will make it increasingly more difficult for schools to implement substantial changes to contractual terms.
Duty To Prevent Sexual Harassment:
From 26th October 2024, the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 comes into force, strengthening current protections against sexual harassment and imposing new duties on employers. As an employer, you and your school will need to show you have taken reasonable, proactive and systematic steps to prevent sexual harassment. To do so, you should continue to focus on the culture within your school; ensuring policies and procedures, training and development, reporting and investigation channels, monitoring and review and people management are in place. Undertaking risk assessments is also a great way to make sure you are fulfilling your duty.
By keeping afloat of developments, you can help your school thrive. Undertaking a review of your current policies is a great way to ensure your school stays compliant and both you and your employees are protected. With the recent changes in the law regarding preventing sexual harassment, looking to ensure that your school has the necessary safeguarding procedures in place is vital in ensuring you are upholding your duty. Also look to take steps to identify who within your organisation may be affected by the upcoming changes explored in the new Bill, so you can best prepare and adapt you working practices when the time comes.
Here at Whitehead Monckton, we are best positioned to help you navigate this transition period. Whether helping with policy reviews or providing you with legal support so you understand your position in light of the new changes, our expert team have years of experience in dealing with such matters across the education sector and keep well up to date on this quickly developing area. Working m alongside HR consultancy experts Eclipse HR, also ensures that should you need HR advice, the integration is seamless, and the support offered is of the same high quality. If you do require any support or guidance around these forthcoming changes or to discuss any other employment related matter, feel free to contact us.
In light of the wide-scale reforms the new Government is planning to introduce, we are offering clients a review of their employment contracts and handbook at a discounted rate. We are also offering a package to help you comply with the new laws surrounding preventing sexual harassment – including training, preventing sexual harassment policy, policy statement, risk assessment and staff survey questions. To find out more about how we can help, Get in Touch.
