15 SEPTEMBER 2005
GUIDANCE NOTES ON SAFEGUARDING FOR TEACHERS[1]
SECTION A – INTRODUCTION TO CHANGES TAKING EFFECT FROM 1 JANUARY 2006 2
Principles of safeguarding 2
Reviewing of duties assigned to teachers in receipt of safeguarding 2
Start dates for safeguarding 3
Circumstances which do not cause safeguarding to cease 4
Notification of safeguarding 4
Teachers employed on a part-time basis 4
SECTION B - SAFEGUARDING OF MANAGEMENT ALLOWANCES (see Section J, examples 1 – 6 for illustrations) 4
Background 4
Notification to teachers of the safeguarded sum 5
Reasons for safeguarding to cease 5
Circumstance which causes safeguarding to erode 6
How safeguarding of MAs works - summary 6
SECTION C – SAFEGUARDING OF TLRS 7
When TLRs may be removed or reduced 7
Notification to teachers of the safeguarded sum 7
Reasons for safeguarding to cease 7
SECTION D – SAFEGUARDING OF SOCIAL PRIORITY ALLOWANCE AND INNER LONDON AREA SUPPLEMENT (see Section J, example 7 for illustration) 8
Background 8
Notification 8
Reasons for safeguarding to cease 8
SECTION E – ASSIMILATION SAFEGUARDING (see Section J, example 8 for illustration) 9
Background 9
Notification 9
Reasons for safeguarding to cease 9
SECTION F - SAFEGUARDING FOR MEMBERS OF THE LEADERSHIP GROUP AND ADVANCED SKILLS TEACHERS – APPLICABLE FROM 1 SEPTEMBER 2005 (See Section J, examples 9 – 14 for illustrations) 10
Background 10
Notification to teachers of the safeguarded sum 11
Reasons for safeguarding to cease 11
SECTION G - EXISTING HEADS ALREADY IN RECEIPT OF A SAFEGUARDED SUM FOLLOWING REDUCTION OF INDIVIDUAL SCHOOL RANGE PRIOR TO 1 SEPTEMBER 2005 (See Section J, example 15 for illustration) 12
Background 12
Notification to teachers of the safeguarded sum 12
Reasons for safeguarding to cease 12
SECTION H - TEACHERS IN RECEIPT OF MORE THAN ONE SAFEGUARDED SUM (See Section J, example 16 for illustration) 13
SECTION I – CHECKLIST FOR THE RELEVANT BODY 14
Safeguarding basics 14
When awarding, reducing or removing TLRs 14
SECTION J - EXAMPLES 15
Safeguarding of management allowances (examples 1 – 6) 15
Safeguarding of teachers in receipt of Social Priority Allowance and Inner London Area Supplement (example 7) 18
Assimilation safeguarding (example 8) 19
Safeguarding for members of the Leadership group and Advanced Skills Teachers (examples 9 – 15) 20
Teachers in receipt of more than one safeguarded sum (example 16) 24
WHERE APPLICABLE, PLEASE SEE ALSO THE SEPARATE ‘GUIDANCE NOTES ON GENERAL SAFEGUARDING FOR TEACHERS’.
SECTION A – INTRODUCTION TO CHANGES TAKING EFFECT FROM 1 JANUARY 2006
Principles of safeguarding
1. The principles of safeguarding are:
· teachers should not suffer an unexpected drop in salary through no fault of their own;
· safeguarding should be applied on a mandatory basis;
· safeguarding should operate on a fixed-term basis not exceeding three years;
· safeguarding should be on a cash basis (i.e. salaries are to be cash-protected);
· teachers should know at the start of the three-year period what safeguarding arrangements are applicable to any salary element and these must be set out in their annual salary statement.
Reviewing of duties assigned to teachers in receipt of safeguarding
2. If a teacher is in receipt of safeguarding totalling more than £500, the relevant body must review the teacher’s assigned duties and allocate such additional duties as they reasonably consider to be appropriate and commensurate with the safeguarded sum during the time that the safeguarding is in payment. If a teacher unreasonably refuses to carry out such additional duties, payment of the safeguarded sum must cease. The relevant body[2] must notify the teacher in writing of their decision to cease paying the safeguarded sum at least one month before payment ceases.
Start dates for safeguarding
3. Management allowances will be safeguarded for a maximum of three years from 1 January 2006. The same applies to assimilation safeguarding payments, and social priority allowance and Inner London Area Supplement payments.
4. Members of the leadership group and Advanced Skills Teachers, and those in receipt of teaching and learning responsibility payments (TLRs) after 1 January 2006 will also receive safeguarding if the relevant body determines that any changes to the staffing structure should cause a reduction such teachers’ salaries. Teachers affected by such a determination will be paid a safeguarded sum from the date the relevant body determine (and in the case of leadership group and ASTs safeguarding, they must also determine to implement the safeguarding) until the third anniversary of the ‘relevant date’.
5. The relevant date referred to in paragraph 4 depends on the date of the relevant body’s determination. If the determination is made:
· between 1 September and 31 December, the relevant date is 1 January immediately following this period.
· between 1 January and 31 March, the relevant date is 1 April; and
· between 1 April and 31 August, the relevant date is 1 September.
6. This means that, for example if the relevant body determine to cease paying a TLR on 6 September 2006 then the safeguarded period for that teacher’s TLR runs from 6 September 2006 until 31 December 2009 at the latest. In the case of Leadership Group and AST safeguarding where the determination is not implemented immediately, please see paragraph 41 below.
Reasons for safeguarding to cease
7. There are a number of basic ways in which safeguarding may cease. This will be the earliest of the following:
· at the end of the three-year period;
· at the end of the period for which the payment was originally made (for example, at the end of a one-year fixed-period management allowance);
· if the teacher receives a higher point on the pay scale/spine or a new or higher level allowance where the combined value of the new point and/or the new allowance value equals or exceeds the combined value of the old point and any safeguarded sum or sums;
· if the teacher’s employment at the school ends (other than in cases where general safeguarding applies);
· if the teacher is placed on a different pay scale or spine (except when a main scale teacher is first placed on the upper pay scale or in cases where general safeguarding or internal school reorganisation apply).
Circumstances which do not cause safeguarding to cease
8. The circumstances set out in paragraph 7 above will cause safeguarding to cease. Circumstances which do not have a material impact on the cash safeguarded sum are as follows:
· Years in the safeguarded period where the teacher does not progress up the pay scale or spine.
· Where the teacher has progressed up the pay scale/spine but the total amount of salary increase since they were first safeguarded is smaller than the value of the safeguarded sum (or sums if applicable – see section H below).
9. Safeguarding does not cease if a teacher’s working hours change (see paragraph 11).
Notification of safeguarding
10. The relevant body must ensure that any teacher due to receive safeguarding receives full notification of the details in his/her pay statement. Further details of the requirements are given below in respect of each safeguarded item. Relevant bodies may wish to note that model pay statements for September 2005 are available at http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/payandperformance/pay/Model_Pay_Statements/ and these will be revised for January 2006 to take account of the requirements for notification of safeguarding.
Teachers employed on a part-time basis
11. Part-time teachers must be paid safeguarding on a pro-rata basis.
SECTION B - SAFEGUARDING OF MANAGEMENT ALLOWANCES (see Section J, examples 1 – 6 for illustrations)
Background
12. No new management allowances (MAs) may be awarded after 31 December 2005. Since April 2004, MAs have only been able to be awarded[3] for a fixed period of up to one year at a time.
13. From 1 January 2006 all MAs – whether or not a school has implemented a new staffing structure - become a safeguarded sum, which either lasts until the end of the existing fixed period or, in the case of MAs awarded prior to 1 April 2004 which had no end date, until 31 December 2008. See also graph 15 below, which explains the circumstances in which safeguarding may come to an end sooner.
14. The maximum safeguarded period runs from 1 January 2006–31 December 2008 subject to the reasons for safeguarding to cease in paragraph 16 below. Therefore schools can decide when to implement their published revised staffing structure. This could be at any point during the safeguarded period but this does not affect the last possible date for safeguarding to end which remains no later than 31 December 2008 even if the restructuring were, for example, implemented in September 2008. The award of a TLR at any point in the safeguarding period will immediately affect the value of any safeguarded management allowance in payment.
Notification to teachers of the safeguarded sum
15. Within a month of the publication of the revised staffing structure (i.e. no later than 31 January 2006) the relevant body must notify all teachers in receipt of management allowances in writing of –
· The value of their management allowance as at 31 December 2005.
· If the allowance was awarded for a fixed period, the latest date on which payment will cease. (For example if an MA was awarded from 1 September 2005 for one year, the teacher must be advised that payment will cease on 31 August 2006 at the latest.)
· The value of the point at which the teacher is placed on the main scale or upper pay scale, taking into account any pay increase or progression.
· The value of the safeguarded sum (i.e. the value of the MA minus any TLR awarded between 1 January 2006 and 31 January 2006 in this instance)
· Information about where a copy of the school’s staffing structure may be viewed.
Reasons for safeguarding to cease
16. The earliest of the following:
· 31 December 2008.
· The end of a fixed-period MA.
· If the teacher ceases to be a classroom teacher. (For example, if the teacher moves to the leadership spine, takes up an AST post etc.)
· If the teacher is awarded a TLR at any point in the safeguarded period which equals or is higher than the safeguarded sum. This also includes TLRs which are awarded at a later stage. Safeguarding ends from the date such a TLR begins.
· If the teacher in receipt of a safeguarded sum is placed on a higher point on the main scale or upper scale (including achieving Threshold) during the safeguarded period, if the total increase due to movement on the main scale or upper scale since the date of the notice referred to in paragraph 4 equals or exceeds the safeguarded sum. (NB: the safeguarded sum does not erode and the pay progression increase is paid to the teacher in addition to the safeguarded sum unless the total increase equals or is more than the safeguarded sum.)
· The teacher’s employment ceases at the school except in cases where general safeguarding would apply.
· Where the teacher is receiving more than a total of £500 of safeguarding, if the teacher unreasonably refuses to carry out any additional duties that the relevant body reasonably assigns to him for the duration of the safeguarding period. (See paragraph 2 above for more information.)
Circumstance which causes safeguarding to erode
17. If the only safeguarding which a teacher receives is a safeguarded management allowance, the ONLY situation in which the value of the safeguarded sum – that is the value of the former management allowance - is reduced at the start of or during the three-year period is where the teacher is awarded a TLR, or a new TLR, which is less than the safeguarded sum (i.e. the former MA).[4]
18. In such a case, the value of the safeguarded sum is reduced by the value of the TLR and the teacher receives the TLR, plus, for the safeguarded period, the difference between the new TLR and the former MA.
19. Other pay changes (such as where a teacher receives a cost of living pay award but does not move up their pay scale) do not erode the value of the safeguarded sum. The safeguarded sum may be lost because of the pay changes set out in paragraph 16 above, but it does not reduce in value before it is overtaken.
20. If a teacher is in receipt of more than one safeguarded sum, then the award of a TLR of smaller value than the management allowance will always erode the value of the former management allowance, as in paragraphs 17 and 18 above, but the relevant body will need to consider carefully the application of the rules on overtaking when multiple safeguarded sums are being paid (see Section H below and Section J, example 16.)
How safeguarding of MAs works - summary
21. The original salary is the scale point that teachers are on at 31 December 2005, taking into account any pay progression due in September 2005. Relevant bodies need to know this in order to see whether increases in the teacher’s salary over the safeguarding period have overtaken the value of the safeguarded sum.