School Support Staff Negotiating Body Update

By way of background, the Employment Rights Bill (now the Employment Rights Act 2025) provides for the establishment of the SSSNB, which will be a statutory negotiating body for school support staff which will negotiate pay and conditions and advise on training and career progression. Further legislation will be required to “commence and constitute” the SSSNB in 2026.

The government has stated that it is anticipated school support staff will continue to be covered by their existing arrangements in the 2026 / 2027 financial year, and as a result the first outcomes that will arise from the SSSNB will be from the 2027/ 2028 financial year “at the earliest”.

A public consultation to inform the setup of the SSSNB took place during 2025. We have not as yet seen the outcome of the consultation, but the government has confirmed that the consultation’s findings and response will be published in “early 2026”. The government has confirmed that the definition of school support staff, which formed part of the SSSNB consultation “will inform secondary legislation to confirm which staff will be in the remit of the SSSNB.” The Employment Rights Act 2025 does specify in schedule 4 that school support staff means any person employed by a local authority in England, under a contract of employment providing for the person to work wholly at one or more schools maintained by a local authority in England, or employed by the proprietor of an Academy under a contract of employment which provides for the person to work wholly at one or more Academies, or provides for the person to carry out work of a prescribed description for the purposes of one or more Academies. There is a strict condition contained in the legislation that the person cannot be a school teacher. We shall need to wait for the outcome of the consultation, and for the secondary legislation to be drafted, to understand the intricacies of how the SSSNB will work in practice and who will fall within its remit. The government has however, confirmed that the SSSNB will recognise the “varied and vital” roles that school support staff undertake, and that the body will support work to drive high and rising standards in schools, and ensure it gives children the best possible life chances.