Bryan Slater Director of Education	Distribution
	All Headteachers of Norfolk Schools

The attached document is provided for your information:

ACTION	Title	Working Time Regulations 2001
	Summary of contents
	Associated documents	Letter
	Date	16^th March 2004
	Summary of action required
	To be completed by	Immediate
	LEA Contact	Bob Hedley	(	01603 222418
	E-mail address	bob.hedley@norfolk.gov.uk
	LEA Contact	Glynis Ballard	(	01603 222522
	E-mail address	glynis.ballard@norfolk.gov.uk
	Norfolk Self Review reference	7. How well is the school led and managed? 8. How well does the school use its resources?
	Document reference	MI 69-04

Mrs G Ballard

BCS-GB--Schools-MI-WorkRegs 01603 222522

16^th March 2004 01603 219050

glynis.ballard@norfolk.gov.uk

TO: HEADTEACHERS OF ALL

NORFOLK SCHOOLS

Dear Colleague

Working Time Regulations 2001

Entitlement to Paid Annual Leave

The Working Time Regulations (Amendment) 2001, provided for a minimum of 4 weeks’ paid holiday for all employees, regardless of their length of service or the number of hours worked.

This in effect means that all paid support staff working in schools are now entitled to receive a notional holiday entitlement of a minimum of 22 days per year. This would naturally include everyone on a contract, and staff in this position already receive an allowance in their annual salary calculation equivalent to their personal annual leave entitlement. However, the regulations now mean that anyone working at a school including those on a casual, as and when required basis, is now also entitled to have paid holiday. The entitlement accrues from the first day of employment. Therefore all support staff currently paid by casual claims should also now receive a paid holiday allowance.

Clearly it is impractical for support staff in this situation to actually receive paid annual leave, and the solution being adopted across the County Council is to roll up the entitlement into an individual’s hourly rate, which will be increased accordingly.

In order for this arrangement to comply with legislative requirements, employees must be aware of their entitlement to annual leave and how it is being paid, and it must be a true addition to their hourly rate.

Therefore, for all casual work undertaken by support staff in schools and paid by way of “Blue Claims” with effect from 1^st April 2004, hourly rates will be increased by approximately 8% to take account of annual leave entitlement under the Working Time Regulations.

There is a pay award pending for support staff and when this has been agreed revised salary scales will be sent to schools showing the hourly rate for the work undertaken as well as the enhancement to show holiday entitlement.

It is appropriate to use casual claims only when the reason for doing so is a truly casual situation, e.g. to cover for the short-term absence of a member of staff, or a peak in workload. When the employment pattern is regular and lasts for a number of weeks, then a contract of employment must be offered.

This regulation will not apply to anyone undertaking additional hours in their substantive post, these hours will continue to be paid at the relevant rate.

I apologise for not notifying you of these costs with the recently issued budget guidance but the County Council’s position has only recently been finalised. The County Council, as an employer, is required to comply with legislative changes as they occur and failure to do so could result in tribunal cases being taken out against schools and the LEA.

Yours sincerely,

Bryan Slater

Director of Education