Management Information Sheet

Notice of Escalation of Industrial Action

You will be aware that in 2011, the NUT held a Teachers' Pension Scheme ballot, and in 2012 it held a ballot on teachers pay and working conditions. In 2011, NASUWT also held a ballot on pension, workload, conditions of service including pay and pay progression and job loss.

The result of those ballots was discontinuous strike action (with the last strike day being 30 November 2011) and continuous action short of a strike.

The NUT and NASUWT have now called upon their membership to take further discontinuous strike action for one day on Tuesday, 1 October 2013. There is also some indication of possible further action in the form of another one day of strike action before Christmas.

The purpose of this MI sheet is to offer information and guidance to all schools and academies on planning for the strike day. There are some key objectives that you will want to ensure are met:

• Education of students is maintained
• Statutory requirements are met
• Health and safety of pupils and employees is secured
• Appropriate leadership and authority is in place

In order to meet those objectives, you will need to consider prioritising the services you deliver and assess the risk to each of those services as a result of the strike action. If your resources are adversely affected by the strike, you will want to consider directing remaining resources and effort to the highest priority areas. Some key messages for all schools and academies are listed below.

Those schools and academies that buy HR services from Norfolk County Council can obtain further advice and guidance from HR Direct, on 01603 222212.

Staff eligible to strike

Unions are required by law to give employers 7 days' notice of the number and description of members called upon to take action in each workplace. This information is sent to the employer (i.e. the local authority, governing body or academy trust). The headteacher or principal of each individual establishment may also be directly notified of membership numbers (but not of individual names) Headteachers or Principals may therefore, have information about the number of people who may be called upon to strike but will not be informed as to who then chooses to take part in the strike. It is reasonable for Headteachers, Principals or Chairs of Governors to ask staff in advance what their intentions are although there is no obligation for staff to answer that query and no obligation on union representatives to give any indication of who will actually be striking. The query should be made in a way which makes it clear that there is no pressure and no obligation to answer.

In order to ensure sufficient arrangements are in place for leadership, it is particularly helpful for schools to ascertain the position of the Headteacher or Principal and the Deputy in advance.

Staff who are not in the NUT or NASUWT are not entitled to be on strike and should present themselves for work as normal. Non-attendance at work for anyone not entitled to take strike action may be considered a disciplinary issue.

Staff who are at work may be asked to cover the duties of those absent through strike action but only if the duties are similar in nature. If the work is clearly different, staff should only be asked to cover in critical situations and there is no obligation for staff to comply with any such request. Again, staff should not feel pressurised into doing work which is different and reallocation of work is a sensitive area which can have long term repercussions.

Impact on Pay

Staff on strike are in breach of their contract and will have pay deducted for each day of the strike. A deduction will only be made if the employee was due to work that day; it is not a penalty for taking strike action but reflects the fact that strike action is a breach of contract and employers are entitled to claim damages as a result.

The deduction is based on 1/365th of annual salary in accordance with Burgundy Book conditions. There are different interpretations of the Burgundy Book , but the approach recommended is consistent with that taken in previous strikes and recognises the need for proportionality in respect of part time workers who may not work a whole day.

For those staff who were due to work for the whole of the strike day, the deduction will be at the rate of 1/365 of annual salary. The recommended approach for staff who are contracted to work for only part of the day is to make a pro-rata deduction applied based on the proportion of their total contracted working hours lost. So for example if the teacher was contracted to work as a teacher for half a day on the day of industrial action, the calculation would be 0.5/365 days.

Staff who are on strike are not entitled to sickness payments. However, if someone has reported sick prior to the strike (e.g. ongoing long-term absence), they should receive sickness payments as normal. School leaders will want to make particular enquiry about any sickness absence reported on the day if they have any belief that it may not be genuine.

Process for making deductions from pay

Schools and academies who do not buy a payroll HR service from Norfolk County Council will need to put arrangements in place to ensure absences on the day are recorded and deductions made if strike action has been taken.

For schools and academies that buy a payroll service from Norfolk County Council, established arrangements are in place. Headteachers and Principals will be sent a pre-populated spreadsheet after the strike day and need to complete that to notify HR Shared Services (HRSS) of those employees who have taken strike action and the hours they were scheduled to work. The spreadsheet should be returned from the "head@" account to industrialaction@norfolk.gov.uk by 8th October 2013. Deductions will be in place for the November pay run.

If the Headteacher or Principal takes strike action, Chairs of Governors need to inform HRSS by emailing that information to the industrialaction@norfolk.gov.uk address, with accompanying text that makes it clear that the message is being sent in their capacity as Chair of Governors. HRSS will take the completed spreadsheets as authorisation to make deductions.

Picketing and other action

Peaceful picketing is allowed but only by a maximum of six people on or near their own place of work. Pickets are not generally allowed on school/work premises but you may allow this if being elsewhere presents safety issues. There is no current information about where pickets might be for this planned strike action.

If staff request time off to attend Trade Union rallies, meetings etc during work time, that should be considered in line with the school's policy on authorised leave. If agreed to, it would be unpaid and staff should not attend if authorisation is not given.

Notification of School Closure

Having taken all information in to account, each Headteacher or Principal will have to assess the viability of remaining open with a reduced number of staff. In some circumstances, that will lead to a decision to wholly or partially close the school or academy.

There must be a written risk assessment in place if there is a whole or partial closure of the school or academy, and parents and carers should be informed as soon as possible. In addition, as soon as the school or academy knows that it is intending to close or partially close on the day of the strike, it should give advance notification of that intention, using the Emergency School Closures system in the My school section on the Norfolk Schools website.

In order to provide required information, it is essential that the Local Authority is notified of any planned school closures through the school closure system as soon as the decision to close (whether wholly or partially) has been taken - there is no need to wait until the strike day or closer to it; planned school closures can be entered as soon as they are known.

NB- If a school has insufficient staff to be able to open and run safely, it is closed to pupils but not to staff. Staff should present themselves for work as usual unless specifically informed otherwise (and a decision on this will depend on other factors relevant to the individual school).

Further information

There is further information on the Norfolk Schools site.

For those establishments that buy an HR service from Norfolk County Council, further advice and guidance is available from HR Direct on 01603 222212.