June 2017

The know zone

  • Click, connect… take care
    Social media is meant to be fun and informative as well as a useful networking tool, but we should also be wise to its pitfalls. Here, Sally Jack provides top tips on managing your online reputation. More
  • Back to basic principles
    Revisiting some traditional leadership techniques could help ease the burden on business leaders when their time is under ever-increasing pressure, says Val Andrew. More
  • Where there’s a will…
    Making a will is something we all intend to do but we put off. Solicitor Frances McCarthy explains the importance of making a will before it’s too late. More
  • A path for primary
    Government proposals on primary assessment offer some potential solutions to flaws in the system, although challenges remain, says Julie McCulloch. More
  • Leaders' surgery
    Hotline advice expressed here, and in calls to us, is made in good faith to our members. Schools and colleges should always take formal HR or legal advice from their indemnified provider before acting. More
  • Action plans
    Curriculum and assessment reform, together with a new grading system, have put enormous pressure on leaders to ensure that their school or college communities understand the changes. Here ASCL members share their views on what steps they have taken to ensure that everyone is on board. More
  • A radical approach
    Extreme Dialogue is an education project that works to build resilience to radicalisation among young people through a series of free educational resources and highly engaging short films. More
  • Give us a clue!
    The new Progress 8 measures were meant to improve accountability but, according to one Deputy Head, schools have found them something of a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. More
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Hotline advice expressed here, and in calls to us, is made in good faith to our members. Schools and colleges should always take formal HR or legal advice from their indemnified provider before acting.

Safeguarding suspension advice

Q: I am a Headteacher and my Chair of Governors has called to tell me that I am suspended and must go home at once. He asked me for my keys and laptop and will only tell me that it is a safeguarding issue and that an enquiry will be undertaken by the local authority designated officer (LADO). I have been told not to contact anyone in the school and that a letter will follow.

A: It is not unusual for a colleague to be suspended if an allegation of safeguarding has been made against them and, indeed, sometimes, it is in a member’s best interests for this to happen. The ACAS statutory Code of Practice states, “Where there appears to be serious misconduct, or risk to property or other people, a period of suspension with pay should be considered while the case is being investigated. This allows tempers to cool and hasty action to be avoided. Any suspension must be with pay unless the contract of employment allows suspension without pay, and any period of suspension should be as short as possible. 

Tell the employee exactly why they are being suspended, and that they will be called in for a disciplinary meeting as soon as possible.” In the case of a safeguarding issue, it may well be that an investigatory meeting takes place initially and any suspension may be connected with the potential or perceived risk to other people. 

If you are an ASCL member and you have been suspended, whatever the reason, you should call the ASCL Hotline immediately on 0116 2991122, and we will assign a field officer to support you. The field officer may question your employer about the need for the suspension and will try to ascertain details of any allegations. ASCL will support you, with the assistance of our legal team, throughout the process. 

For more information, see the ASCL Legal and Member Support Policy www.ascl.org.uk/help-and-advice/legal-support

Setting salary levels

I am a Business Manager in an academy, which is about to form a MAT. I will be assuming a role across all the academies in the MAT and the trust has said that it would like to award me a pay increase and conditions of service from the school teachers’ pay and conditions document (STPCD), which will still be used by the MAT. My colleague from a maintained school has told me that this is not permitted. Who is right?

As it stands, the STPCD only applies to teachers, so your colleague is correct. Despite ASCL’s long and continuing fight to allow school business managers who are members of SLT exactly the same pay, terms and conditions as teaching members of SLT, this has not yet been achieved. 

In maintained schools, business managers’ pay and conditions are based on the pay scale determined by local authorities. In an academy or MAT, however, the trust can determine the pay and conditions of business managers or indeed of any other senior support staff. 

In many academies, business managers will have been Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) transferred with their local authority pay and conditions, but this can be renegotiated in line with the academy or MAT’s own pay policy after the transfer. There are national pay scales available as a guide (National Joint Council (NJC) or other local support staff pay ranges). An academy can award its business manager a salary range that equates to another SLT role that has parity of responsibility, such as that of a deputy principal/assistant principal, which would have the effect of aligning the pay scale with the STPCD. Whatever is decided, this should be recorded and the academy’s pay policy should be updated to include when and how frequently pay reviews will take place. 

The Green Book is the national agreement on pay and conditions of service for local government services, which applies to school support staff in the maintained sector or those TUPE transferred across into academies. 

ASCL has published a guidance paper supporting the evaluation and decision-making about pay for school business leaders and school business managers, and other school leaders who carry out businessrelated functions. Download the guidance online at www.ascl.org.uk/gp/settingpay-SBL

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