Decision To Dismiss Headteacher Who Failed To Disclose Her Relationship With A Convicted Sex Offender Was Fair

In Reilly v Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, the Supreme Court has upheld the Judgment of an employment tribunal that the decision to dismiss a headteacher who did not tell her school about her close friend's conviction for a child sex offence was fair.

Ms Reilly was a primary school headteacher. She had a long term close relationship with Mr Selwood, who was convicted of making indecent images of children by downloading the images. She did not cohabit with Mr Selwood, nor was she in a romantic or sexual relationship with him, but she jointly owned a house with him. Following his conviction, she decided that she was not under a duty to disclose her relationship to the school. Later the school governors found out about the conviction. Ms Reilly was suspended, subjected to a disciplinary procedure and summarily dismissed. This was on the basis that she had committed gross misconduct by breaching an implied term of her employment contract under which she had a duty to disclose such a relationship.

Ms Reilly brought an unfair dismissal claim in the employment tribunal. The employment tribunal found that the reason for dismissal was not unfair although there were serious procedural errors in the appeal. However, the tribunal found that Ms Reilly would have been very likely to have been dismissed even if the procedure had been fair and that she contributed to her dismissal by not disclosing the relationship. Her compensation was therefore reduced by 100%.

This decision was upheld by the EAT and the Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court also agreed. Although Ms Reilly was not under a statutory duty to disclose because she was not living in the same household as Mr Selwood, she had breached her employment contract by failing to disclose information which was relevant to her safeguarding duties.

It was found that the headteacher was under a contractual obligation to advise, assist and inform the governing body in its safeguarding responsibilities and to be accountable to the governing body for the maintenance of pupil safety. It was also relevant that the disciplinary rules in the contract of employment identified as misconduct a failure to report something which it was her duty to report. The Supreme Court held that her relationship posed a potential risk to children and it was not for the headteacher unilaterally to assess the risks to the children in the school. She should have disclosed the facts in order that the governors could assess the...