Employment Law: Q&A for Governors: Ask us Anything About Restructures and Redundancies

These are the most frequently asked questions taken from Judicium’s Employment Law ‘Sofa Session’ from the 13th of November with Employment Law & HR consultants Jenny Salero, LL.B (Hons), L.P.C., Kelly Rayner, LL.B (Hons), QLTT and Suzanne Ravenhall, Chartered MCIPD.

1.   It is November now, if we want to make changes to staffing levels from 1st September when should be begin the process?

We would suggest that you start planning as soon as is possible, often putting together the business case is one of the most time-consuming parts of the process, so allowing yourself as much time as is possible is the best way to approach this.

In addition, if you are proposing to make redundancies that impact on teaching staff any process (bar any appeals) would need to be completed by 31st May, if you are following the Burgundy Book. Therefore, it is likely that the process will need to commence early in the Spring Term.

Equally, with support staff although you are not tied to the same resignation deadlines, if you do have long serving colleagues they may be entitled to 12 weeks of notice. Therefore, we would suggest that processes involving support staff should ideally also conclude by 31st May. This should then avoid any overlap into the new academic year.

2.   Is there a strict format in which a business case needs to be presented?

There is no legal format in which a business case must be provided, but some policies do outline the information that should be included.

3.   What information should be included in a business case?

The business case should include the What, When, How and Why answers to questions that staff will have. The business case does not have to be in a particular format (unless your policy specifies this), but should include:

• What the proposals are;
• Why the school is proposing to make the changes;
• What has already been done to try to avoid the situation;
• An indicative timeline for the process;
• How staff will be selected for redundancy (if applicable);
• Which roles are included in the pool and why (it is also helpful to cover off why some roles have not been included if they are similar to those included in the pool i.e. a HoD but in the same subject);
• How any redundancy payments will be calculated;
• Whether voluntary redundancy payments will be offered and if so, how these will be calculated;
• An equality impact assessment – if this is required in your policy; and
• Details of the policy you will be following (or confirming best practice will be followed if you do not have any policy in place).

Clients of Judicium Education do have assess to a number of template business cases that we can work with you to tailor as part of our Employment Law and HR Service.

4.   Do Governors have to meet to sign of the initial and any subsequent business case?

Governors do need to approve the proposed business case and any subsequent proposal following the consultation, but this meeting does not need to take place in person. The proposals can be approved online or via email for example, particularly if time is tight and discussions around the proposals have already taken place.

5.   Should the selection criteria be consulted on?

In short, yes. If you have a number of roles and staff need to be selected from this pool for redundancy the business case should outline how this selection will take place. This could be a whole range of methods such as selection criteria, competency-based interviews or observations and this business case should set out this information.

6.   Is there any method for selection that is better than another?

Generally speaking, an interview process is often the fairest way to select staff but can of course be more time consuming that using a set of selection criteria and scoring staff against this. However, how the school chooses to select staff is at its discretion, unless the school’s policy sets out a particular required method.

7.   Can the School exclude some roles from the process?

In some circumstances it may be possible to exclude certain roles from the process or pool, but HR advice would need to be sought on this. An example may be differentiating a Head of Department from other wholly class-based teachers of a particular subject or removing HLTAs from a pool of support staff, because of their additional responsibilities and qualifications.

8.   How long does a period of consultation need to run?

The consultation needs to be reasonable in all the circumstances and will of course depend on the proposals themselves. If the school is proposing to make 20 or more people redundant within a 90-day period the consultation must run for a minimum of 30 days before the first redundancy takes place.

9.   If the School chooses to use interviews should the Governors be involved in the interview process?

Generally a member of the Governing Body would be involved in the interview process. The school would need to think carefully about who this was as they should not have been involved in detailed discussions on the proposals and attending the interview would preclude them from sitting on any appeal Panel, if the redundancy was appealed.

10.  Should we keep some Governors out of the process in case of any appeal at a later date?

If possible, this is advisable. Some organisations permit an HR Committee or set group of Governors approve the proposals and be involved in detailed discussions with their SLT about the changes. This ensures that other members of the Governing Body are kept back for interviews and appeals etc.

Useful Information

If you would like to see what HR and Employment Law training we have coming up, including A Practical Guide to Planning a Restructure/Redundancy Process please see our training page here.

If you would like more information of how we can support you or more information regarding our Employment Law and HR Advisory service, please see more details regarding the service here.

Alternatively, you can contact us on: 0345 548 7000 or email enquiries@judicium.com

You can follow us on Twitter: @JudiciumEDU

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