Spring Term 2024

Spring Term 2024

Welcome to our Spring Term 2024 update

We very much hope the festive closure period has provided you with the opportunity for rest and relaxation in preparation for the new term ahead.

The weeks before school closure were, as seems to be customary, extremely busy with a flurry of HR updates.  Here is a summary below plus some other items you may have missed in the pre-closure rush of in-school and out of school activities.

From here you will be able to access our newsletters, briefings and other key topics for the Spring Term 2024 as they are added.

School Teachers’ Review Body remit letter for 2024 has been published

On 20 December 2023, the Secretary of State for Education wrote the to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) to ask for recommendations on the pay and conditions for teachers and school leaders for 2024/25. The STRB is due to report back to the DfE in May 2024.

You can find more information on the key messages included in the remit on our latest news page.

Updated School Workforce Planning Guidance 

In December, the Department for Education updated its School Workforce Planning guidance for the first time since 2018.

The guidance introduces 6 principles to guide leaders' decision making. Focusing on the importance of having a clear school vision, underpinned by a people strategy, investing in the people development and being data and evidence led when making decisions about staffing.

The guidance also includes a range of illuminating case studies from schools that have taken a strategic approach to people and data management resulting in reduced turnover, enhanced career progression and professional growth opportunities, the reduction of unnecessary workload, and enhanced personal wellbeing.

You can find a detailed summary of the updates to the guidance via our latest news page.

Changes to Working Time Regulations Holiday & Pay Calculations from 1 January 2024

You can find more information regarding the changes effective on 1 January 2024 and the suggested actions for employers here in our Absence, Time Off & Working Time Resources.

The action list for January should include:

If you choose to use rolled up holiday pay and currently operate a basic rate calculation method for calculating pay for the 1.6 week’s holiday derived from the UK Working Time Directive ensure this is changed to a ‘normal’ rate calculation

A new statutory definition of normal pay is in force from January 1:

• Payments, including commission payments, which are intrinsically linked to the performance of the tasks which a worker is obliged to carry out under their contract
• Payments for professional or personal status relating to length of service, seniority or professional qualifications
• Any other payments, such as overtime payments, which had regularly been paid to the worker in the 52 weeks preceding the pay calculation.

Ensure staff are informed of the new 18-month limit on leave carry forward when leave cannot be taken as a result of taking sick leave/family-related leave.

Consider reviewing records kept for recording working time with a view to reducing records retained for compliance.

Ensure you inform any affected employees that any leave untaken due to COVID must be taken by 31 March 2024.

Forthcoming employment law changes from 6 April 2024

Several long-awaited employment law changes are due to come into force on 6 April.

• Flexible Working Changes
• Pregnancy and family leave: Protection from redundancy
• Carer's leave
• Additional changes to Working Time Regulations Holiday and Pay Calculations

You can more information on each of these forthcoming changes on our Legislation Tracker. We will be updating a range of resources over the next couple of months.

People Strategy

We have a range of resources to support you in developing a People Strategy for your setting available via our HR Resources Hub. If you would like to discuss your school requirements in greater depth contact us to set up a call.

EduPeople

Improved data insights to inform decision-making about staffing can be facilitated by EduPeople, our modular HR and payroll solution, providing a single point of data entry for all employee data. Find out more here.

Upcoming Training and Webinars

You can now find details of our online training offer for this term please click here to find out more.

Webinar Library

You can access a range of previously run webinars on demand by clicking here and keep an eye out for details of upcoming webinars using this link too.

Termly HR Briefing

We are holding our usual termly briefing online on 7 February for schools on current and forthcoming HR matters, including employment law and education policy updates.  You can register here.

Don't forget you can also view ongoing ad hoc news and updates via our Latest News page and by following us on social media via X or Linkedin.