Dear Lynne

You have received the following update from the Strictly Education HR Resources Hub:

Children’s wellbeing and Schools Bill published

The Government has laid the Children’s wellbeing and Schools Bill before Parliament.

The Bill proposes significant changes to a number of matters, including making provision to strengthen the safeguarding and welfare of children (including children in care), tighter governance over school attendance, allowing Councils to open up schools and end automatic academisation of failing schools.

From an HR perspective, it sets out provisions about teacher misconduct and  requires all teachers to have or be working towards Qualified Teacher Status.  It also requires all teachers to be subject to the same pay and conditions framework (STPCD), including those in academies.

Teacher Terms and Conditions

The DfE has said that, to make sure schools can continue to attract and retain the best teachers, all teachers will be required to be part of the same core pay and conditions framework (i.e. the STPCD), whether they work in maintained schools or academies. This means academies would be forced to follow the STPCD and pay scales in the future. It would not, however, cover academy trust executive pay.

The DfE has said it will ask the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) to consider additional flexibilities within the framework to make it most effective for all schools before it will require academies to comply with it.

It is unclear whether teachers employed by trusts who currently pay above the national deal will be able to retain those more favourable terms, although the DfE has suggested no teacher will suffer a “detriment” as a result of the changes.

The DfE has also said that many 16-19 academies have pay and conditions arrangements that are different to the school sector and bringing them in line with schools would be disruptive. They are therefore excluded but can still choose to follow the framework voluntarily.  

It is expected that there will be a consultation period before the changes come into effect, and implementation of the requirement will not happen until at least September 2026.

Requirement to hold QTS

As part of the Bill, all new teachers in state primary and secondary schools will need to have qualified teacher status, or be working towards it before they enter the classroom-this will therefore also cover all teachers in academies.

These teachers will also be subject to an induction period but we await details of whether or how this will differ from the current ECT induction period. 

The requirement is expected to come into effect from 1st September 2026. 

Teacher Misconduct

Lifetime bans for serious misconduct will be extended to teachers in FE colleges and independent training providers. The teacher misconduct regime will apply to the FE sector if a provider teaches students aged under 19, meaning a prohibited teacher would not be able to teach young people under the age of 19 in any of the settings listed.

FE colleges, special post-16 institutions and independent training providers will have a legal duty to decide whether to refer cases of serious misconduct for the TRA to investigate.

Teacher misconduct powers will also be extended so that the education secretary can investigate a person who has at any time been employed or engaged to undertake teaching work. This will capture individuals who have committed serious misconduct even when not employed as a teacher or in teaching work but who have previously carried out teaching work, to prevent them from being able to return to the classroom.

You can view the full publication here