Workforce Steering Group

PRESENT

/ Alison Bennett, David Bush,Belinda Ewart, Therese McNulty, Mark Nelson, Billie Ohene, Louise Singleton, Liz Walton
APOLOGIES / Hans Formella, Jas Kalra, Sue Rademacher, Monica Raphael
CHAIR / Therese McNulty
MINUTES / Preeti Shah (copies can be found at
LOCATION / Room 7 Ealing Education Centre
DATE / Thursday 15th January 2015
TIME / 9.30am to 12.00noon
ITEM / POINTS DISCUSSED / ACTION AGREED / ACTION BY

Welcomeand Apologies

TM welcomed the group.
HF now resigned from the group as the NAHT representative. HF thanked for his valuable contributions and input over the years.
Additional information to note (after the meeting) SR also resigned from the group as the Special school headteacher representative.

/ TM to approach the Special school heads for representation
Minutes from last meeting / Updates and matters arising from minutes– 13th November 2014

Safeguarding–DBS standing agenda item

Religious Observation leave for teachers- MN has sought advice from Legal who have confirmed that some local conditions are set by the LA – this is one. It affects community schools but not foundation and voluntary aided schools unless they follow LA conditions of service.

MN to approach Council Members to ask, as a request from schools to review this provision for paid leave for teachers only. MN to reportback to the group when a response has been received.

Clerks JD/Guidance – an agenda item
Terms of Reference –have been published on EGfL, Going forward may need to change due to the outcome of decision made by the Schools Forum. Discussed under AOB.
Changes to Leadership Pay –Headteacher reps feel this still an issue. MN informed the group that governors were frequently contacting HR regarding headteachers’ pay and scope for change. Advice given by HR is that headteacher salary range can only be changed if there has been a significant change of duties e.g. size of school or other challenges (STPCD 2014). Governing bodies and chairs of governors would have to justify what these changes are and document. If other members of the leadership have had new provisions or if a vacancy, the governing body can review some or all of the leaderships pay. If this includes temporary additional duties, the governing bodies are bound by other limits. Again governing bodies need to record why the payment has been made and how much.

TM suggested that the a copy of any changes/decisions made about an individual’s pay be kept with a person’s HR file (not just in the pay committee minutes)
DB asked whether benchmarking was available as this would be useful to make comparisons with when deciding HT pay. MN responded it would be easier to provide LA information for primary schools but limited so as to adhere to data protection. EW suggested having a grid showing an overview of current picture. The group discussed on how this could look and the data it would provide.
MN to consider template on this for governors and headteachers and see what possible
MN to checkwhether government intend to release wider benchmarking information and also check what other LAs do. Agenda item for next meeting.
Southall quadrant to contact Fiona Canney in payroll regarding iTrent teacher pay statements for 2014/15. Action from 13/11/14 meeting / MN to action
MN
MN to action
LS to follow up

Site Managers and Clerks job descriptions

/ AB thanked the group for their feedback. The JDs for Assistant Caretaker (new), School Caretaker (revised) and Site Manager (revised) have now been evaluated. She has been talking to union rep, Mary Lancaster (ML) Unison and is awaiting response. AB was thanked for reviewing and writing and Schools HR for job evaluating JDs.
AB asked that the quadrants are made aware that the JDs will soon readily availableon EGfL but if schools want copies in advance to contact her.
Some questioning as to why the group were considering generic JDs. TM informed the group that this had been requested by the unions at the Operations group and WFSG had agreed to look at in both site and TA and site JDs at the November meeting. TA JDs will not be reviewed until the new standards have been released.
AB informed the group that a new SBM framework is also due out and NAHT/NASBM guidance on pay for SBMs.
Clerks JDs
TM has sought views from senior officers and governor associates on the clerks JD. She will seek comments from clerks and chairs at the next network meeting in February. .
The group discussed the draft clerks JD and whether some of the points under the optional heading should be included as part of the main JD. TM to amend the JD according to suggestions proposed.
All agreed they would like just one JD to be made available once finalised.
Clerks’ appraisals will also be discussed with chairs and clerks at their network meeting. BE asked who should be carrying out the appraisals. It was suggested that this will differ depending on how a clerk is employed but that it should be their line manager if have another role in the school with input from chair or the head and the chair for all others. Once objectives have been agreed, monitored by the chair.
TM to consult with HR on draft guidance esp. regarding salary, sickness and leave. HR happy to help seek clarification with legal once format of guidance agreed. / AB to post JDs onto EGfL
HT reps to share with quadrants.
TM to action
TM to liaise with HR/HR with legal

Safeguarding/

DBS including disqualification by association (raised at Operation group meeting)

/ MN informed the group that no decision has been made regarding DBS online.
It is not a requirement that school governors have DBS. Each school needs to do a risk assessment. However, if a school wishes they can have a DBS carried out on a governor so the schools can do what they want to.
.Disqualification by association - DfE have produced a supplementary guidance for staff who work in certain circumstance i.e.with 0-7 year olds who are now required to sign a declaration form.
HR have issued guidance and are asking that all staff sign the declaration form advising that they “declare to the best of their knowledge’ that they are not disqualified by association as a result of living with anyone who may or has in the past posed a safeguarding threat. .
Trade unions are advising members not to sign at the moment. Catholic diocese is also advising schools to hold on for now. Some schools have obtained signed forms from all staff but others have staff who are not signing, as advised by their unions. MN informed the group more clarity may be provided by early February as the DfE are reviewing. HR advice is thatthat staff should sign and if refuse on advice from union this be noted on the form.
BE asked whether the single central template on EGfLcould have an extra column to record disqualified by association. / MN to provide link to advice given
MN to revise template. HT reps to advice quadrants.
5. /

Allegations against professionals (Review of procedure/

guidance and practical support for schools) – (raised by EW,BE)

/ BE/EW on behalf of their quadrants asked MN whether the LA could produce a clear flowchart/procedural summary giving information about when an allegations is made against a member of staff what HTs should do and what staff members should expect will happen within what time frames. HTs were concerned as In these situations staff are often left feeling isolated and vulnerable through lack of information. .
EW also highlighted view from colleagues that there appears to be a significant change in thresholds of what needs to be reported to the LADO. The guidance appears to be saying that headteachers need to act within 24 hours and inform the LADO – but without advice/someone to talk to about, this makes decision making difficult.HTs would like confirmation if such an advice line exists and if not is it something they could request. E.g. A LADO helpline.
MN informed the group that guidance had been issued last year and is on EGfL A leaflet has also been produced by HR and a gatekeeping item dated 6th May 2014.
MN to email to Ruth Lacey, Tom Galvin (TG) and Judith Finlay re schools concerns and what they would like to see happen.Before sending MN to share with BE and EW for their comments.
A question was raised on how long LADO has before response/comment. MN to include in the above email.
MN advised the group that training is put on by Social Care for new headteachers but they are looking to put out to the wider headteacher group. Information on
MN to have discussion with TG on what would be helpful for headteachers. At the moment information is not in a format which headteachers feel is easily accessible. MN to also check whether LADO only reports the incidents that go to the Safeguarding group or other reported incidents. / MN to action and report back
6. /

Occupational Health (raised by BE)

/ MN had written to Sandra Wilkins (SW) regarding concerns by headteachers). MN shared response received by SW (see attached in email. Only to be shared with WFSG).
MN to contact SW to ask if it could be clearer on the form whether they would welcome HT comments to clarify or question report on staff members so accurate and helpful.
Occupational health has said they welcome headteacher feedback to clarify or add to detail to employee letters. / MN to action.
HT reps to share with quadrants
7. /

AOB

/ Schools forum decision on future funding for workforce and governance

Schools Forum has agreed to fund school workforce and governance until 2016 with a review in 2015. This is to allow for HT/governors views to be sought re what they want from a reshaped/revised service before a strategy and way forward drawn up and agreed. .

TM asked if HT reps could ask quadrants what they would like to see in a ‘reshaped’ service for both workforce and governance. Comments to TM.
TM to draft proposal from comments and consult with HT reps on WFSG group in order to agree priority areas. TM to also flag up at governor meetings and also use their comments to shape proposals.
Directors’ report

BE – suggestion that standing item in Directors’ report could be termly outline of what GBs should be looking at

Events – notification of

School Governors One Stop Shop (SGOSS) governor recruitment event – 3rd March 2015
Governors’ Conference on 9th June 2015. 12 – 5pm at Doubletree Hotel, Ealing Common. Theme to be confirmed.

/ H/T reps
TM
NEXT MEETING:
DATE / Thursday 5th March 2015
LOCATION / Ealing Education Centre (EEC) – room 12
TIME / 9.30am – 12.00pm
CHAIR / Therese McNulty
Items for next agenda:
Leadership Pay
HT standards
Allegations against professionals
FUTURE MEETING DATES
Meetings for 2015
All meetings to be held from 9.30am – 12.00pm. All meetings unless otherwise indicated to be held at EEC
Thursday 23rd April 2015
Thursday 4th June 2015 – note change from 11th June

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