Further to MI 133/08 and Remodelling Newsletter No. 11, you may or may not be aware that it is intended to introduce a specific change into the statutory arrangements set out in the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document so that, with effect from 1 September 2009, teachers will be expected to cover for absent colleagues only rarely. This proposed change was indicated in paragraph 50 of Section 4 of the 2007 Document (and repeated in the 2008 Document). Currently, of course, the Document says that no teacher can be required to work more than 38 hours of cover per year.

Intensive discussions are taking place at national level in the Rewards and Incentives Group (RIG) with a view to agreeing how this change can be incorporated into the 2009 School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document and what further guidance should be incorporated in the Section 4 statutory guidance. RIG wants to be able to issue these revisions well in advance of 1 September in order to give schools and local authorities adequate time to prepare for the move to rarely cover.

In these national discussions, representatives have consistently argued that it is necessary that, when the change comes in, there is a shared understanding of what is meant by cover - which should in future only be undertaken rarely, and what is in fact teaching, perhaps resulting from the school's practice of utilising a timetable that is flexible and changes during the course of the year. The key argument is that schools need to be able to deploy all their resources, including staffing resources, efficiently and to the benefit of pupils education.

Representatives are seeking amendments to the current statutory guidance set out in Section 4 to make it clear that in particular circumstances the retimetabling of a teacher would lead to the teacher concerned teaching, rather than the activity being designated as the provision of cover.

The Local Authority, working in collaboration with the Local Social Partnership will keep you informed of this development and will pass on the final statutory arrangements for cover as soon as they are received and provide support where needed.

If you have a query or need advice, please contact either Peter Simmonds on 07795 265669 or by email or Virginia Wakely on 01603 638092 or by email; or your school's HR Consultant.

This MI has been produced in liaison with the local Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group (WAMG) representing teacher and support staff unions - signatories to the National Agreement, and also the NUT.