To:Nut United Learning Academy Representatives

September 2015

TO:NUT UNITED LEARNING ACADEMY REPRESENTATIVES

NUT DIVISION SECRETARIES WITH UNITED LEARNING ACADEMIES

NUT REGIONAL SECRETARIES

NUT UNITED LEARNING ORGANISERS

Dear Colleague

NUT BRIEFING FOR UNITED LEARNING (UL) ACADEMIES – AUTUMN TERM 2015

This briefing gives information on pay and conditions and other matters in UL Academies and of the ongoing NUT campaign to Stand Up for Education in opposition to the Government’s attacks on pay, conditions and pensions.

The NUT is also now beginning to send email newsletters to all NUT members in all national Academy chains as part of a more regular programme of communication. Members in your chain will be receiving one shortly.

NO TO AUSTERITY

The NUT is calling on its members to support the ‘No to austerity – yes to workers’ rights’ national march and rally at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester on Sunday 4 October. Please encourage members to attend!

See the TUC website for more details:

The People’s Assembly is organising coaches from around the country - See the People’s Assembly website for more information:

SCHOOL FUNDING CRISIS

This year's NUT Conference committed the Union to campaigning for an end to education cuts and for a restoration of funding levels. To do this, we need to show how financial pressures are affecting schools, colleges and education. We’ve recently sent an email survey to school reps - the responses so far have highlighted concerning issues for example a reduction in teaching and support staff, larger class sizes, cuts to available subjects, increased reliance on unqualified teachers and cheaper and substandard materials and resources. These examples are very useful for us – especially when are communicating with the press and MPs. If you haven’t already done so, please complete the NUT survey at:

LOBBYING OPPORTUNITIES

The school funding crisis is just one of the issues members can lobby their MP about this term – either in person or by letter or email. On the national lobby days we want a strong presence in Parliament – with a delegation attending from every MP‘s constituency. Please work together to ensure your area is represented. More information on the organisation of the lobby days is available on the website – it’s also a good idea to talk to regional offices about arrangements.

Members can be directed to the following places for information about the issues and how to get involved:

Supply agency lobby – Wednesday 28 October

School funding lobby – Wednesday 18 November

Members can also email their MP about the new Education and Adoption Bill. More information and the link to email MPs is available here:

The NUT is backing the TUC campaign against the Bill –more details are available at:

All these issues are being drawn together in a campaign video that can be used in members meetings – once its available online we’ll let you know.

UL JOINT NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE ON 6th JULY

The unions met with UL nationally on 6 July, at which the following issues were discussed:

• On facilities time, UL advised that more academies were signing up to local authority arrangements following the pressure from the unions and the letter from UL encouraging academies to consider doing so. Any information on this from reps and division secretaries is welcome.
• On pay progression, the teacher unions reiterated their concerns at the low progression rates in UL. We continue to press UL for information on why rates of pay progression are significantly lower in UL than in other academy chains or in the maintained sector. Thank you for the feedback we’ve had on this already – more feedback on pay progression is welcome. We know that pay progression is a longstanding issue in some UL academies and want to increase the pressure on this issue, so feedback from reps is very useful.
• On cover, as previously advised we haven’t managed to secure a “rarely cover” policy with UL. We know from rep feedback that cover is a major problem in some UL academies and again pressed UL on this issue at the meeting. UL is looking at this issue. In the meantime, please continue to advise us of any problems with cover in your academy.
• Thepay offer of 1% for staff in academies on UL contracts was discussed. At that point the unions were considering a joint response to the offer – see below for further details.

We raised a number of points relating to problems reported by reps at individual UL academies - UL undertook to look into these. Please continue to let us know of such issues, so that we can raise these with UL in the same way. The next JNC meeting will take place on 29 September, so any matters you would like us to raise with UL should be emailed to ior to that date.

We continue to discuss Continuous Professional Development (CPD) with UL. UL has committed to ensuring that all staff have access to and can participate in CPD throughout their career. We want to ensure that this commitment is reflected in reality, so please advise us of any problems in accessing CPD

2015 PAY AND PROGRESSION

• As previously noted, United Learning offered a pay award of 1% for staff in academies on UL contracts with effect from 1 September 2015.
• UL subsequently confirmed the offer, and stated that for teachers employed on TUPE terms and conditions a 1% increase would be applied to all pay scale points except the maxima of the leadership range.
• A discretionary, performance-related, additional 1% can be applied locally for teachers on the maxima of the main pay range (analogous to the discretionary 2% uplift at the maximum of the main pay range in the maintained schools sector).
• The teacher unions did not formally accept the offer. Although we managed to secure the application of the 1% increase in UL across the board for teachers on UL contracts as well as TUPE’d teachers, as opposed to the situation in maintained schools where the 1% award is discretionary on schools’ part, a 1% award is unlikely to protect teachers against continuing real terms cuts in their pay when measured against inflation.

PAY AND APPRAISAL – STATUS OF POLICIES

• Pay Progression – As noted above, this is a major issue in UL and we have made it clear to UL that we will press this issue as a matter of urgency. Any feedback from reps or members to support our case is welcome.
• UL Pay Policy for Teachers on UL Contracts – The UL pay policy for teachers employed on the UL Academy contracts was published effective from September 2014 but it was not agreed with the trade unions. The unions explained their concerns in detail in the consultation meetings. In a number of significant areas there was a lack of objectivity, consistency and transparency. Although the unions secured a number of significant improvements to the draft, including pay portability, agreement with UL in respect of the policy as a whole ultimately remained elusive.
• The UL Pay Policy for TUPE Teachers was published effective from September 2014 but it was not agreed with the trade unions. At the November 2014 JNC meeting the unions explained to UL that they didn’t believe UL had done enough to check their new pay policy for TUPE staff against contractual terms that transferred under TUPE regulations. The unions couldn’t therefore agree the new pay policy for TUPE staff, and noted that any liability would be with the employer.
• The UL Performance and Development Review Policy was published effective from September 2014 but it was not agreed with the trade unions. Agreement was prevented due to a number of significant concerns, such as the absence of any limit on the number of observations and clear guidance on when feedback will be given; and concerns about application of pay progression. We continue to press UL on these issues.
• The UL TUPE Teachers PM/Appraisal Policy was also not agreed with the trade unions for largely similar reasons, such as the proposed criteria to determine pay progression and lack of limit on observations. NUT reps are reminded that UL recognises the right of TUPE transferees to stay on STPCD and transferred terms e.g. pay and appraisal while in the same post, so members should not sign a new contract without careful consideration. NUT advice should be sought in cases of doubt. Again, we continue to press UL on these issues.

UL REGIONAL FORUM – LONDON

UL plans to holdjust one Regional Forum this year, to take place in London. The provisional date is Thursday 12 November. Further information on this event will be circulated as soon as it is available.

TRADE UNION FACILITIES TIME ARRANGEMENTS

The UL national recognition agreement provides for Academies to participate in local facilities time arrangements. The recognition agreement says “The Academy will participate in arrangements within the local authority area with regard to time off with pay for any employees who are local or national trade union officers in order to permit time off with pay for trade union duties undertaken in that capacity.”

UL leaves such decisions to the discretion of individual Academies. Local secretaries need to ensure that individual Academies are complying with all aspects of Trade Union Recognition Agreement, including the agreed policy on facilities time, and are advised to liaise with NUT representatives on this issue. We’ve again discussed this issue with UL, which has written to all academies setting out the case for taking part in local arrangements (as noted in previous newsletters). UL says that more academies are now considering taking part in LA arrangements. UL have promised an update on the position, but in the meantime any information on this from reps and division secretaries would be very useful. We will again be pressing UL on this.

NUT TRAINING FOR ACADEMY REPS

• The NUT’s Reps’ Foundation Course is a new three-day course for newly elected reps or those who have not previously attended training, developed specifically to reflect the changing context for workplace reps. The course is delivered locally or regionally and is free with travel expenses reimbursed. Click here for details -
• Training courses for reps who have already attended the foundation course are also held regionally and are free with travel expenses reimbursed - Academy reps are entitled to time off with pay to attend these training courses under the terms of the recognition agreement with the academy chain.
• In addition to the national NUT Rep’s Foundation Course, we will also be running an additional course specifically for UL reps. This training which will supplement the other rep training courses, will offer a unique chance for UL reps to meet and collaborate with Union colleagues from academies across the chain. The course is currently in formulation and date will be circulated as soon as it has been finalised. Any reps who would like to attend this training should email to register their interest.

NUT BENEVOLENT FUND

The NUT has now set up a benevolent fund which will provide financial assistance when members have suffered sickness, accident or injury, unemployment or bereavement. It is financed by donations from members, local associations and income from investments. More information, including on how to donate, is available here:

FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT WORKING IN UL ACADEMIES

Further information about pay, conditions and other matters regarding the UL academy chain is available on the NUT website at Details of the national Trade Union Recognition Agreement with UL are also available here.

INFORMATION SHARING AND CONTACT DETAILS

The NUT Executive Rep for UL is Alan Rutter at . The NUT national organising team member dealing with UL academies, members and NUT representatives is Vin Wynne at . NUT members who require advice and assistance should in the first instance contact the NUT AdviceLine on 020 3006 6266. NUT reps who need to seek assistance with any casework problems affecting individual members should, as ever, contact the NUT local secretary who can seek support from the NUT’s regional offices as appropriate. In the event that assistance or information is required from NUT headquarters, however, the following can assist:

David PowellPatrick Bennett

Principal OfficerPolicy Officer

Yours sincerely

ANDREW MORRIS

Advice, Policy and Campaigns Department

Head of Pay, Conditions & Bargaining Section

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