Education Bulletin - Winter 2022

Published date23 March 2022
Subject MatterEmployment and HR, Consumer Protection, Unfair/ Wrongful Dismissal, Education
Law FirmWrigleys Solicitors
AuthorWrigleys Solicitors

In this issue, we start by looking into the employment issues and legal risks of having a high turnover in school staff. This article also covers the legal obligations of schools hiring agency supply staff.

We also look at the key elements of the DfE updated and consolidated guidance on external reviews of governance and consider why academy trusts need to manage conflicts of interest and what this means for them in practice.

Our employment law solicitor, Alacoque Marvin talks us through the updated guidance on special severance payments for academy trusts and what the additional requirements are for academy trusts. We also highlight the case of Flatman v Essex County Council and how the lack of manual handling training in lifting a disabled pupil was a fundamental breach of contract.

More regular COVID-19 updates and what that means for staff are posted to the news page on our website and linked through Twitter and LinkedIn.

As always, we really welcome feedback and suggestions for further topics that may be of interest to you, so please get in touch.

School staffing and the risks of the revolving door

What are the legal risks of high staff turnover and reliance on agency staff in schools?

School employers have reported a higher level of staff turnover in recent years. Coupled with this, high levels of staff absence, particularly since the start of the COVID pandemic are an ongoing concern. This has led many schools to rely on an increased number of transitory staff, including agency supply staff. In this article, we consider the employment law considerations for school employers facing these staffing challenges.

This article focuses on employment law issues, but in doing so it is important not to lose sight of the disruption caused to the quality of education by high staff turnover.

Crisis - what crisis?

Many schools and trusts were facing a staffing crisis in certain subjects and at certain management levels in the years before the COVID pandemic. The drivers for high turnover of teaching staff are many and varied. A House of Commons Library Briefing Paper from November 2021 Teacher recruitment and retention in England provides a useful overview of some of the longer-term issues impacting on teacher recruitment and retention. Unsustainable workload, government policy and a lack of support from leadership top the list of reasons given by those leaving the profession. Unsurprisingly, teaching staff mobility between schools is more likely where staff are...

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