Savings used to fund pay rise for teaching staff

WQ.6/2020

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CHAIR OF THE STATES EMPLOYMENT BOARD

BY DEPUTY R.J. WARD OF ST. HELIER

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 21st JANUARY 2020

Question

What savings were identified in education that were subsequently used to fund the additional pay rise for teaching staff via the gainshare agreement?

Answer

Following negotiations with the NASUWT, NEU, Prospect and Unite, agreement has been reached with the teaching and civil service unions which will enable the additional payment of 0.8% to be made to teaching staff and teaching assistant framework staff from 1 January 2020. The additional payment of up to 0.8% formed part of the negotiated pay settlement, agreed by the teaching unions and the States Employment Board (SEB) in 2019, and also accepted by the civil service unions in respect of their members who are on the teaching assistants' framework. This payment is based on the redistribution of funds from the Education budget to staff salaries.

All teaching staff and teaching assistant framework staff will receive the additional 0.8% within their January pay.

Union officials and officers from the Government have been meeting throughout the autumn term to negotiate this agreement, which identifies the areas of the Education budget from which money will be redistributed to teachers and teaching assistants' pay. As agreed as part of the negotiated pay settlement, funds will also be redistributed for reinvestment into the Education system to the tune of a further 0.8%. This means there is no reduction to the overall Education budget as a result of the pay settlements.

To outline the agreement reached with the teaching and civil service staff side unions, £2,841,804 will be redistributed over the lifetime of the Government Plan (2020-2023) to fund the 0.8% additional pay settlement, and for reinvestment to other parts of the Education budget. This will be from the following areas:

To explain each in turn: Supplementary allowance (SA)

Reviewing SA points provides an opportunity to bring equality to the allocation of leadership points to teaching staff across all schools. This will ensure points are allocated fairly and consistently to staff.

To do this we will need to:

• Undertake an audit of all points allocated to school staff, identifying the number of points allocated and the reasons for allocation. The audit will compare the number and reason for allocating SA points across all schools.

• When reviewing the value of responsibility roles at each SA point the application of the policy should consider the additional workload, responsibility and legal aspects of the role. This will require support from Job Evaluation to ensure the right number of SA points are awarded for the responsibilities undertaken.

• We will also establish whether SA points have been allocated as a substitute for market allowances, in order to attract and retain staff in schools.

• To disentangle any SA points allocated to staff as a means to attract or retain staff in schools, a mechanism for providing a market supplement for difficult to recruit staff should be explored.

• The Joint Working Group (which consists of Union representatives and Government of Jersey Officers) will review and update the SA points guidelines, last updated in 2014. It is agreed these guidelines will then become policy. This is to ensure the new policy is in line with best practice and to provide clarity to school leaders when allocating points for different roles.

• Data will be provided to indicate the turnover of teaching roles across all schools. This will include those staff leaving Government schools and staff moving between Government schools. At each point a job role with SA points is advertised, the number of points to be allocated will be reviewed by a newly formed "SA Points Panel" to ensure consistency of allocation is achieved in line with the new SA policy. The SA Points Panel will be represented by school leaders, unions and Government of Jersey Officials.

• The VAR (Vacancy Approval Request) form will be updated from 1 January 2020 to include the number and purpose of SA points. A variation of the VAR form will also be created to ensure it meets the requirement for the internal allocation of SA points within a school to be reviewed by the SA Points Panel.

• To enable the redistribution of funds as part of the teachers' pay settlement will require all SA points which become available following the turnover of staff to be reviewed. If the value of these points or the need to retain these points is challenged by the SA Points Panel then these may be removed and redistributed as part of the negotiated pay agreement. Notwithstanding this, the deletion of an SA will not take place if it is evident that it could lead to an increased workload for other Teachers.

• A decision will need to be undertaken when to apply the policy across all teaching staff. Initially this will be done as roles become available following turnover, however to ensure that equity of responsibility is achieved it may be necessary to review all roles with responsibility by a fixed date.

• SA points held by Education Department Staff will be reviewed in accordance with the reviewed SA points policy.

STA (and in future HLTA's) - Reduction in supply costs

There is an opportunity to provide an additional way of providing classroom cover by the creation of a new Senior Teaching Assistant (STA) role. This will enable:

• A reduction in supply costs which will enable the redistribution of funds to the teachers' pay agreement and in due course to those on the TAF following agreement with the Civil Service unions.

• Increasing the opportunities for classroom cover to be provided, by both supply teachers and by STAs.

• To enable Teaching Assistant staff to develop their skills further to enable them to provide cover for classes.

To achieve this, the following will need to be agreed:

• The cover supervision element of the STA role should be in line with best practice. This will include defining what cover supervision is, identifying cover limits, when it is and is not appropriate for STA cover to be provided and ensuring the appropriate balance of the use of STA cover and supply cover by teachers is available in schools.

• The STA work stream group identified the limit to cover by an STA as not in excess of three consecutive days in any one class.

• Classroom cover by STAs can be appropriate for both planned (e.g. CPD) and unplanned (e.g. short term sickness) absence.

• A job description / specification will be created for this role. Roles within the existing Teaching Assistant Framework will be reviewed and the relevant roles will be developed to include the new responsibilities. These will then be evaluated.

• There will be a requirement to increase the number of these roles, which are able to and available to provide classroom cover.

• Accreditation training for this newly created STA role will be designed and delivered by the Education Department.

• In addition to creating a new STA role, work will also be undertaken by the JWG to explore the creation of a Higher-Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) role, which will complement the Teaching Assistant Framework.

Non-teaching costs

Following analysis of non-staff expenditure by officers from CYPES, the following budget lines to be redistributed are based on continued underspending in these areas or new planned ways of delivering best value, therefore enabling a reduction in spend.

• Reduction in budget at department level - £136,000

• Reduction in budget at school level - £102,200

Finance officers are now working with school leaders to discuss the impact on individual school budgets. To reiterate, all of the above was agreed with the Unions, and implementation will commence this month.