November's education snapshot

Reflecting on the past month, as part of November's snapshot, keep up with the latest sector developments. 

Minimum service levels consultation

The Secretary of State for Education, Gillian Keegan, has launched a public consultation in response to the Government’s Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 in the event of future strike action. The aim of the act is to balance:

• the ability of unions and their members to strike, and
• the need for the public to access key services during strikes.

The consultation covers two options:

• A focus on prioritising attendance for vulnerable children and young people; exam groups; and children of critical workers.
• A focus on prioritising all pupils in primary school, and priority cohorts in secondary and Further Education settings.

It also seeks to gather evidence on the impacts of strike action in higher education, and the case for minimum service levels covering this sector. The consultation is taking place via an online survey and closes on 30 January 2024.

Share your thoughts and help to make an impact! 

Retained EU employment law reforms

Recent updates from the Government have outlined legislation due to come into effect on 1 January 2024.

The Government has published both their response to the consultation on Retained EU Employment Law, and the Employment Rights (Amendment, Revocation and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2023. Briefly, the key highlights include: 

• retainment of regulations 13 and 13a, which determine the rate of pay for annual leave at 4 weeks normal pay and 1.6 weeks at basic pay
• introduction of Rolled Up Pay for 'irregular hours workers and part-year workers' 
• accrual of holiday entitlement for 'irregular hours workers and part-year workers' introduced at 12.07% of hours worked in a pay period
• a three-step process for calculating holiday entitlement where a worker is on other leave
• increased flexibility to consult directly on TUPE
• a repeal of COVID carry-over holiday entitlement rules
• clarification on record-keeping for employers on demonstrating compliance with Working Times Regulations. 

Further draft legislation has also been published to amend the Equality Act 2010 in the form of a statutory instrument to ensure that the law will continue to offer the same equality protection after the end of 2023. This is because some interpretive elements were derived from EU discrimination protections and would otherwise have disappeared at the end of 2023 due to Brexit.

For further details on the outcomes and reforms, EPM customers are requested to contact their Adviser.

Update from our colleagues at the DBS

The DBS is instrumental in ensuring the safety of vulnerable people, particularly in the education sector, and has produced an article sharing their latest statistics, actions, and commitment. Read their updates here. 

Safeguarding updates from Ofsted

With a recommendation from Education Support to the UK education departments ‘to overhaul the inspection system’, Ofsted’s recent blog looks at the way safeguarding in schools is currently inspected, How we inspect safeguarding in schools. While some reports have found safeguarding is not effective, school leaders must continue to ensure that all staff understand and follow your safeguarding procedures. Have confidence in your approach by completing our range of Safer Recruitment training.

Good financial health and resource management

The DfE has recently shared updated resources for the 2023-24 financial year, to help schools and trusts meet the basic standards for good financial health and resource management. Schools can now access the latest schools financial value standard (SFVS) resources, while trusts should refer to the updated school resource management self-assessment checklist. Guidance published by the ESFA earlier this month also sets out good practices for how trusts with large reserves should go about using them. Explore our Finance service to understand how our specialists can support your spending, including financial planning, budget monitoring, transfers of funds and general financial advice.

Staying on top of your budget

Compare providers in the market and make informed choices with the ESFA's Financial Management System (FMS) matrix. Speak with our Finance Partners about reviewing your FMS or FMS procurement. Plus, don't forget to follow us on social media for the latest news, including the impact of the Autumn budget.

Celebrating 100% success rate for TCaF

This month, we're celebrating a 100% success rate with our TCaF round 2 applications, bringing our overall wins to an impressive £2.5 million. Trusts have used this funding to access our strategic finance, HR, and governance support packages, central services reviews, and bespoke training in finance, HR, and sickness management. If you would like support in applying for the current TCaF round, contact our MAT Development Team. The deadline for applications submitted to the DfE is 1 February 2024.

Teacher Wellbeing Index 2023

Latest statistics from the Teacher Wellbeing Index 2023 show an overall decline in wellbeing in the sector over the past year. Figures show that 78%* of all education staff are stressed (3% increase on 2022) and 89%* of all senior leaders reported feeling stressed. Of course, this is a huge dilemma for the sector, and something that the Education Secretary will be keen to address. Our new cutting-edge integrated cloud-based platform, EPM Connect, serves to automate mundane tasks and reduce administrative burdens so that you can spend your valuable time on achieving educational outcomes. If you’d like to learn more about futureproofing your people with the support of our experts for wellbeing, EAP and Occupational Health, speak to our team.

If you’re looking for advice and guidance about any of the topics raised above or would like to learn more about our range of services and relevant training, please talk to us.