Agenda item

To consider the 2021 Pay Award and seek approval for the Unattached Teachers’ Pay Policy 2021/22 and the Model Schools’ Pay Policy 2021/22 for local authority community schools.

Approval was sought for the September 2021 Pay Award, which was summarised as a consolidated award of £250 to all teachers whose full time equivalent basic earnings were less than £24,000, to be applied to Local Authority Community Schools.

Approval was also sought for the Unattached Teachers’ Pay Policy 2021/22 and implemented by the Council with effect from 1 September 2021, and for the Model Schools’ Pay Policy 2021/22 to be approved and recommended to the Governing Bodies of Schools in Sandwell for adoption and implementation with effect from 1 September 2021.

In response to questions by the Chair of the Children’s Services and Education Scrutiny Board, the Cabinet Member for Community Safety confirmed, on behalf of Cabinet Member for Children and Education, that:

·      the award applied only to Unqualified Teachers pay range and at pay points 1, 2 and 3, who were those earning less than £24,000 per annum. Currently there were four unqualified teachers on point 1, four on point 2, and three on point 3;

·      there were 43 unqualified teachers in Sandwell Community Schools;

·      the award would be funded from school budgets. Schools and governing bodies would need to ensure that financial impact of the pay award was efficiently managed in order to deal with any budget pressures they might face going forward.

Reasons for Decision

The Department for Education had been issuing the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (the Document) to local authorities on an annual basis. It placed a statutory duty on organisations employing teachers to have a pay policy in place by 1 September each year which set out the basis on which the employer would determine teachers’ pay, the date by which it would determine the teacher’s annual pay review and would establish procedures for addressing teachers’ grievances in relation to their pay.

From this document the Council prepared Model Pay Policies:

·      for teachers in schools, which it recommended School Governing Bodies to adopt; and

·      for unattached teachers who were employed by the Council but who did not work in a school location.

These Model Policies were revised annually and had been subject to consultation with all appropriate trade unions in Sandwell.

The School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document contained limited changes for 2021 and as such the Pay Policy was a general refresh only rather than representing wholescale changes.

Both policies were compliant with all appropriate employment legislation and with the 2021 School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document and accompanying statutory guidance.

The September 2021 Pay Award had been informed by the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document 2021 and had been agreed nationally and the recommendation for Sandwell MBC, in keeping with regional comparators for all teachers, was summarised as:

·      a consolidated award of £250 to all teachers whose full-time equivalent basic earnings are less than £24,000.

The pay policies would reflect these pay changes.

Alternative Options

The Department for Education issued the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document. It placed a statutory duty on organisations employing teachers to have a pay policy in place by 1 September each year which set out the basis on which the employer would determine teachers’ pay. This annual review ensured that any proposals were affordable and sustainable pending the next review. As such there were no any alternative courses of action available that would otherwise satisfy these requirements.

Historical feedback had always suggested that the majority of schools were in favour of a consistent pay spine produced by the Local Government Association (LGA) for them across all the pay ranges.

Agreed:-

(1)          that the September 2021 Pay Award, summarised as follows - a consolidated award of £250 to all teachers whose full time equivalent basic earnings are less than £24,000 – be approved and applied to Local Authority Community Schools in Sandwell;

(2)          that the Unattached Teachers’ Pay Policy 2021/22, as now submitted, be approved and implemented by the Council with effect from 1 September 2021;

(3)          that the Model Schools’ Pay Policy 2021/22, as now submitted, be approved and recommended to the Governing Bodies of Schools in Sandwell for adoption and implementation with effect from 1 September 2021.