Leaders' surgery

Making changes at the top

Q I am a newly appointed headteacher and the senior leadership team (SLT) at my school is long established, too large and too expensive, and there is lots of inefficiency. I have three deputies and three assistants. I want to advertise nationally for a new deputy, reduce the remaining team down to three assistant heads, and make everyone apply for their job, the rest becoming redundant. Can I do this? 

A In legal terms, a restructuring of managers that leads to redundancy is allowable if there is no work for the post-holder to do, or if the post at that salary or description is not ‘required’ in the new structure. Therefore, to restructure to one deputy and three assistant heads as a structure is perfectly sound, although the employer (governors) should consult appropriately to see if the unions or others could make alternative suggestions. 

However, to advertise for a new deputy at the same time as re-organising would be wrong and make this a ‘sham redundancy’. Your first duty as an employer in a situation where posts are being made redundant is to find suitable alternative employment for your employees. You would have a difficult time justifying the redundancy if you have three deputies now, and one deputy post available and none of them were to get the post. 

Assuming that not one of the three deputies has any record of capability issues, and that they will have received pay rises under performance-related pay (PRP) (albeit under the old regime), another deputy post would be deemed as ‘suitable alternative employment’. An open, objective competitive process to get the best of the three for the single deputy post is fine. For the other two, one of the assistant head posts would be a suitable alternative and they can be considered alongside the existing assistant heads for the posts – again an open competitive process is fine. At the end of such processes, some colleagues may be ‘redundant’ but you still need to look for what may be suitable alternatives (for example, senior pastoral or curriculum posts). If the current team is under the normal teachers’ conditions of service, then their previous salary is cash protected for three years, so this will not be a money-saving exercise in the short-term.

What you can’t do is use a redundancy process to get rid of identified, underperforming people. This is against employment law. If you have colleagues who are underperforming, tackle it through appraisal, capability and/or disciplinary processes.

Business or pleasure?

Q I am a business manager and I have a group of students taking a trip to Venice for a holiday and to look at art masterpieces. One of the students who wants to go has special needs and has a learning support assistant (LSA) full time in school. Who should pay for the LSA to go on the trip?

A The purpose of the trip needs to be clear. If this is an educational trip and organised by the school, the usual rules about schools seeking voluntary contributions and being allowed to charge for some elements applies. In this case, the school would be acting in a discriminatory manner if it prevented a pupil from going because they needed additional adult support and the school would be liable for the additional costs, just as they are with any other educational activity organised in the school. If the trip does not become good value from an educational point of view when voluntary contributions and other factors are taken into account, then it should not take place. Quite a lot of overseas trips including a ‘holiday’ element as well as education are organised by independent companies, and the school is an agent for that company in advertising or collecting money. In this case, even if school staff go for ‘free’ as part of the deal to provide supervision, it needs to be made very clear that this is not a ‘school’ trip, but one organised by an agent. In this case, it would be that company’s policies about the risks and costs in taking particular individuals, and their responsibility about the viability of the event they are organising. 

The school still has a responsibility for checking any contracts that include the school’s name, and for ensuring that there is appropriate safeguarding in place, as they still have a duty of care towards the students. Please also seek formal advice from your school’s legal providers.

ASCL members concerned about leadership issues should call the Hotline on 0116 299 1122 or email hotline@ascl.org.uk

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