Guidelines for Handling Staff Reductions

MANAGING STAFF IN SCHOOLS

Policy and Procedure for

Handling Organisational Change -

In Schools

Contents

• STAGE 1 – Consultation

• STAGE 2 - Voluntary Redundancy and/or Early Retirement

• STAGE 3 – Compulsory Decisions

• Representation Hearing

• Stage 4 - Appeal

Introduction

The governing body is responsible for determining the size and nature of the staffing establishment at a school. The personnel needs of a school will vary from time to time and governing bodies have a responsibility for managing this process so as to minimise any adverse effects it has on the school either through shortages or surpluses of staff. It is recognised that schools regularly make adjustments as a result of slight fluctuations in pupil numbers or as a result of choice of subjects. Sometimes the resulting staffing implications are easily resolved by discussion with the appropriate staff and it may not always be necessary to apply the full procedures outlined, although the principles of communication and consultation will apply. In the event of change to the requirements of a post or where only one person is involved the full procedure will not need to be applied.

The overall needs of the school are paramount when re-organisation or other circumstances necessitate the reduction in the number of people employed at the school. The governing body will however aim to avoid the redundancy of any employee, whether voluntary or compulsory. This is a serious step for an employer to take and should be taken only after the most careful consideration.

What is a redundancy?

Under the Employment Rights Act 1996 the definition of redundancy is when an employee will be dismissed by reason of redundancy if the dismissal is attributable wholly or mainly to:

“The fact that the employer has ceased, or intends to cease the business for the purposes of which the employee is or was employed, or has ceased, or intends to cease, to carry on that business in the place where the employee is or was so employed”.

ERA 1996

For example, the closure of a school.

“The fact that the requirements of that business for the employees to carry out the work of a particular kind in the place where he/she is or was so employed, have ceased or diminished or are expected to cease or diminish”.

ERA 1996

For example, the restructuring of a department resulting in the reduction in the number of staff needed to provide the service possibly due to falling pupils numbers.

This policy and procedure will apply to all staff working in the school, both teaching and support, (except those staff who are centrally employed by the local authority such as peripatetic staff), who are at risk of redundancy, regardless of length of service or type of contract. It should be noted however that redundancy payments will only apply to those employees who have more than 2 years continuous service within a local authority at the date of termination. This service may be as a result of a number of consecutive fixed term

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contracts or may result from an employee’s earlier, unbroken service with an associated employer.

Where fixed term contracts are due to end at the same time as redundancies are anticipated to take effect, the employees on the fixed term contracts should be treated in exactly the same way as permanent employees. That is they should be offered the same support and consultation and be subject to the same selection criteria. They should also be allowed the same opportunity to appeal a decision to end their contract. The only exception to this will be where an employee has been given a fixed term contract pending a review of staffing needs and that employee has less than 12 or 24 months continuity of employment (as appropriate) on their last day of service.

This model policy is not intended to be contractually binding on the LEA and may be revised by the LEA following consultation with trade unions/staff representatives.

This policy is intended for use in all school closure, staff re-organisation and staff reduction exercises including re-organisation due to falling rolls.

Forward planning to enableearly identification of the potential need to reduce staffing numbers is essential. Projections of future pupil numbers, curriculum needs and financial resources will assist the head teacher and governing body in this task. Likewise, projections of staff losses through retirement, promotion and resignations will give some indication of the potential mismatch between present and future resources.

It will be important to consider the pool from which redundancies may be needed. For example restructuring may reduce the need for administrative staff only and the pool may therefore be the discrete group of administration staff. Alternatively there may be a need to reduce support staff, supporting groups or individual pupils in the classroom. Or the school may need to reduce the numbers of teachers in a particular department or generally across the whole school. Each situation will need to be considered separately.

Where a reduction in staffing is required, this policy sets out the Council’s recommended model procedures to be followed, to ensure the fair treatment of employees affected by such a situation.

The head teacher should seek detailed advice initially from the Human Resources Section within Learning Services at Canolfan Rheidol as soon as a potential need to reduce numbers is identified and engage their support throughout this process. Staff representatives from within theHR Section of Learning Servicesand/or the Corporate HR Section will assist the head teacher and governing body in the operation of these procedures.

The fair application of these procedures is demanding and will take a significant period of time to complete. An example of a timetable which would be appropriate to follow,should the time scales set out in this procedure beadopted, is included atAnnex 1.The example deals with a termination at the end of an academic year and is included for illustrative purposes only. Furthermore, as staff notice periods may vary in accordance with the terms and conditions of their employment, guidance on notice periods are also included in Annex 1,

Individual members of staff can also seek guidance about their personal circumstances from the Learning Services’ HR Section at Canolfan Rheidol.Staff may also seek advice on pension issues from the Teachers Pensions and Local Government Pension Scheme. All staff at risk of redundancy may request an opportunity to discuss their own concerns and redeployment opportunities at ‘one to one’ meetings with a representative from the LEA. Employees are entitled to bring their union representative or a colleague to any ‘one to one’ meeting.

Further support is available to staff who are at risk of redundancy and may wish to seek assistance in dealing with this difficult situation. Aconfidential staff counselling service is available to all staff within Ceredigion County Council. Leaflets outlining the service are available within the School or from theLearning ServicesHR Section and/or Corporate HR Section. For teaching staff information and help is also available from the Teacher Support Network on

Dismissals, including terminations as a result of redundancy, will normally be delegated to the Redundancy First Committee[1]. Governors will be selected to sit on the Redundancy First Committee and be advised by the Head teacher. The Redundancy First Committee should not be too large; a workable number is likely to be three or more. The Head teacher and a representative from HR will attend to advise the Redundancy First Committee.

There will be a need to establish a Redundancy Appeals Committee of the same number as the Redundancy First Committee.No Governor may be a member of both committees.In order to ensure complete impartiality it is recommended that the staff representatives on the governing body are not members of either of these sub-committees.

Notes for guidance on the meetings of Redundancy First Committee and Redundancy Appeals Committee are included at Annex 2.

All consultation meetings are formal meetings and as such should be recorded and documented so that the school can clearly demonstrate that it has followed Policy and Procedure and abided by statutory requirements.

It is also recommended that minutes be taken of any meetings with Trade Unions/Employees. These should be copied to relevant parties and an agreement sought wherever possible .

Confidentiality regarding all meetings and minutes involving individuals should be maintained by all parties.

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Procedure

STAGE 1 - CONSULTATION

Consultation with the LEA

Where a governing body contemplates that a reduction in staff is necessary, the Head teacher should discuss the situation with the Head of Learning Services or his nominated representative, specifying the numbers involved, the reasons for the reduction and the timescale for effecting the changes. Details of the school’s budget situation, staffing details and projection of pupil numbers for at least two years should be included.

If the reduction relates to teaching staff, information about the curriculum review which has been undertaken to assess future staff needs should also be provided. Employees should not be identified at this stage. The Head teacher should also liaise with the HR Section within Learning Services at Canolfan Rheidol to gain informed advice at the outset of the process.

The Head of Learning Servicesor his representative will need to agree that the proposals can go ahead for consultation. At this stage, agreement will also need to be reached as to the arrangements for funding potential redundancies and / or early retirements, including whether the school or the LEA funds the payments.

Consultation with Trade Unions[2]

Employers must consult with recognised trade unions or elected employee representatives about employees likely to be affected by any possible redundancy or the proposed means of achieving the redundancies.

In circumstances where less than 20 staff may be dismissed through redundancy, there is no statutory period for consultation, however it is good practice to apply as much time as possible (minimum of 30 days before the first dismissal takes effect.[3]) taking into account that individual notice periods are likely to be between four and twelve weeks.

The local authority strongly advises schools to use the existing industrial relations machinery which is based on local trade union representatives for this purpose. Openness in managing the process of staff reductions and the involvement of recognised trade unions may avoid difficulties at a later stage.

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Following agreement to commence consultation, the Head teacher and Redundancy First Committee will provide similar information to the school representative / secretaries of the trade unions recognised by Ceredigion County Council. A model letter for this purpose is included at Annex 3.The pack will be sent to the local trade union representative within the school or the County, where there are no local or county reps this will sent to thearea head office of the unions concerned. The names and addresses of the area union representatives are attached at Annex 4.

For the purposes of consultation, the Head teacher should disclose in writing to the trade unions, prior to the first consultation meeting (model letter at Annex 3):

the reasons for the proposed reduction;

the numbers and descriptions of the roles potentially affected;

the total number of employees of any such description employed at the school;

the proposed method of selecting the employees who may be at risk of redundancy and the criteria to be used;

the proposed method of carrying out the dismissals including the period over which the dismissals are to take effect;

the method of calculating redundancy payments.

schools budget situation;

schools staffing structure (current and proposed as applicable);

new job descriptions (if applicable);

school pupil projections for at least the next two years (if applicable).

Reasonable notice of at least 5 working days should wherever possible be given of the proposed meetings with the trade unions. The consultations must be conducted with a view to agreement being reached wherever possible; all parties will need to be aware of the importance of avoiding delays. Any issues raised by the trade unions must be considered and if it is decided not to accept the suggestions, written reasons must be given to the trade unions.

Consultation with Staff

A meeting will be convened by the head teacher of the staff affected to inform them of the situation (trade union representatives should be invited to attend this meeting). In some circumstances where whole School redundancies or major restructure is proposed it may be appropriate to invite all school staff to such a meeting. The local authority representative is also entitled to be present. This initial meeting is critical to the successful implementation of any staffing changes.

The meeting should take place at the earliest opportunity and, wherever possible, at least one term in advance of the date upon which any reductions are due to be effected eg before the end of the Spring term if reduction to be expected at end of Summer Term.

A letter should be issued in advance of the meeting to all staff within the employee group concerned, setting out the issues to be addressed at the meeting, together with the information previously distributed to trade unions.A model letter for this purpose is included at Annex 5.

The purpose of the meeting is to inform staff of the staffing changes, which need to take place and to enable a full exploration to take place of ways to:

• avoid any dismissals;
• reduce the numbers of employees to be dismissed; and
• mitigate the consequences of the dismissals.

Such consideration may include:

• natural turnover;
• freezing of vacant posts;
• staff on short term contracts and agency staff;
• voluntary reduction of hours by some staff;
• voluntary job sharing;
• use of fixed term contracts to meet specific needs;
• voluntary early retirement and or redundancy;
• voluntary transfer of staff to other suitable work within the school, with consideration being given to retraining where appropriate;
• the possibilities of supporting staff who wish to apply for redeployment within other schools
• the availability of salary protection to aid the transfer of staff to other schools.

Decisions on whether to accept volunteers will be made by the Head Teacher and the Redundancy First Committee.

It is essential to ensure that all staff (including part-time staff) who are on long term sick leave, maternity leave or absent for any other reason, are consulted and kept informed and have the same opportunity for taking part in the consultation process as employees present in school.

Staff proposing ways to avoid dismissals or to mitigate the consequences of the dismissals outside of the staff consultation meeting should be requested to do so in writing.

It is likely that staff members will request information and guidance about all aspects of the process. A staff information leaflet outlining the information staff may require and the answers to Frequently Asked Questions is included at Annex 6. It may be useful to have this available at the staff consultation meeting

If further information, which impacts upon this process, becomes available at any time during the consultation period, this information should be distributed to staff and trade unions at the earliest opportunity.

STAGE 2 - VOLUNTARY REDUNDANCY AND/OR EARLY RETIREMENT

Details of employees willing to consider volunteering for early retirement or redundancy will be supplied in writing by the Head teacher to the HR Section within Learning Services at Canolfan Rheidol to enable estimates of benefits to be supplied to the employees.

An expression of interest in early retirement or redundancy does not commit either the employee, the school or the local authority to agree to this course of action.

In order to qualify for voluntary redundancy payments an employee must have 2 years continuous service with an organisation included in the Redundancy Payments (Continuity of Employment in Local Government etc.) (Modification) Order.

If, after receiving the estimate, the employee would like to be considered for voluntary release, the Head teacher will advise the Redundancy First Committee whether the needs of the school can be met if this release goes ahead. In the interest of the School it may not be possible to heed to all requests for voluntary redundancy.

If the school is able to meet the required redundancies through voluntary means, the consultation process will come to an end and staff will be informed.

If there are no, insufficient or no suitable volunteers, the Redundancy First Committee may need to consider compulsory redundancy.

If the Redundancy First Committee is unable to release a member of staff who has volunteered they must inform the individual in writing, outlining clearly the reasons for this.

STAGE 3 - COMPULSORY DECISIONS

If the reductions cannot be effected by the means outlined under Stage 1 and Stage 2 of this procedure, it will be necessary for the Redundancy First Committee to apply compulsory redundancy procedures to implement the changes.

In certain situations it may be determined that the post holder is the only individual undertaking the work that is ceasing or diminishing. In such cases it will be agreed and consulted upon that the post is ‘one of one’ and no pool of staff or selection criteria are relevant or necessary. If this is the case the Redundancy First Committee would need to make a decision to this effect, the individual would still be afforded the right to a representation hearing and appeal.

Where this is not the casethe Redundancy First Committee, being advised by the Head teacher, will meet to finalise criteria by which it is proposed to select staff for redundancy.

Selection criteria must be fair and objective and should not discriminate against staff on the grounds of gender, race, colour, marital status, national or ethnic origin, nationality, disability, sexuality, age, religion, status or number of hours worked.