Legal Article
07/12/23
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has recently announced its decision to reprimand Finham Park Multi Academy Trust (the MAT), after an unauthorised third party accessed and encrypted the MAT's systems. Background The MAT reported a cyber-security breach to the ICO following…
Legal Article
10/11/23
The Government has published its response to the consultations "retained EU employment law" and "calculating holiday entitlement for part-year and irregular hours workers". Whilst the response covers a number of areas (set out below) the most noteworthy is the proposal to change how…
Legal Article
01/11/23
On 30 October 2023, the Department for Education (DfE) publicised a fresh wave of support for the use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the education sector, by announcing £2 million worth of investment in Oak National Academy in its development of a lesson planning assistant for…
Legal Article
15/09/23
The Court of Appeal has ruled in the case of MXX v a Secondary School, dismissing the claimant's appeal against a finding that the school was not vicariously liable for sexual assaults against her by a work placement student. The background. The defendant is a co-educational secondary…
Legal Article
04/09/23
The post-war construction boom saw almost 15,000 schools built between the 1940s and 1980s. The recent announcement on 31 August 2023, lead to there being a total of 156 schools affected with safety mitigation measures in place against RAAC. The recent announcement founds that the start of a new term…
Legal Article
01/09/23
As you will no doubt be well aware by now, the Government have instigated some emergency school closures due to the potential failure of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in school buildings. For details of what has led to this and access to useful links about the current situation see our…
Legal Article
01/09/23
As the parent of a school aged child I, like many other parents, teachers and those employed in education was gearing up for the return to school next week. Concentrating on pulling together the correct uniform, purchasing a multitude of coloured pens and trying to find the PE bag. What I suspect none…
Legal Article
31/08/23
Safeguarding protocols are an essential part of keeping children safe and are a primary consideration for most education providers. The question then is how to balance your safeguarding responsibilities as an employer with an appropriate level of fairness towards your employee when dealing with…
Legal Article
11/08/23
On 2 August 2023, the Department of Education (DfE) updated its governance guidance for FE and sixth-form college corporations. First published in June 2022, the purpose of the guidance is to provide support and assistance to governors with regards to their duties and responsibilities by reinforcing key…
Legal Article
27/07/23
The Conditions of Service for School Teachers in England and Wales, also known as the Burgundy Book was updated in August 2023, for the first time since August 2000.. The Burgundy Book is a national agreement between five teacher unions and the National Employer's Organisation for School…
Legal Article
10/07/23
The University and College Union (UCU) marking boycott has emerged as a significant topic of contention within the academic community. The marking boycott is a form of industrial action employed by the union as a means to negotiate to improve working conditions and pay structures for university staff.…
Legal Article
10/07/23
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Students has recently sought to highlight the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on students in further education (FE), in particular the unique difficulties that college students face (as opposed to say, for example, their higher education (HE) counterparts…
Legal Article
05/07/23
Earlier this month, the Department for Education (Dfe), announced that it was seeking views on the revision to its guidance "Information Sharing Advice for Practitioners Providing Safeguarding Services to Children, Young People, Parents and Carers". This non-statutory guidance provides…
Legal Article
30/06/23
1. We have teaching staff who voluntarily do lunchtime supervisor duties, historically we have an arrangement where we pay them a set fee and provide them with a free lunch. I am keen to understand if legally we are able to continue doing this as an extra payment via their teaching contract or if we…
Legal Article
30/06/23
On 6 June 2023, the Department for Education (DfE) published an updated version of statutory safeguarding guidance for schools and colleges. The newest edition of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) is set to come into effect on 1st September 2023. At present, KCSIE 2022 remains in place until…
Legal Article
28/06/23
There is little doubt that the past few years have been incredibly challenging for schools from lock down and remote / blended learning through to academisations and unfunded pay rises and ever tighter school budgets. Careful financial management and the need to generate new revenue streams is critical…
Legal Article
28/06/23
The recent Scottish case of The University of Dundee v Chakraboty highlights the importance of understanding the rules of legal advice privilege, specifically how and when it applies. In this case, despite what the University believed, the first draft of a grievance investigation report was not legally…
Legal Article
21/06/23
A common issue that Multi-Academy Trusts face when growing is differences in the terms and conditions that can occur between different schools within the MAT. This issue can present a number of practical and legal issues that need to be resolved. How the issue occurs It is well known that…
Legal Article
06/06/23
The ICO has recently published details of a reprimand issued against a primary school following an incident where a safeguarding email was shared in the classroom via an electronic white screen. The reprimand issued is the another example of the ICO's change in regulatory approach to public sector…
Legal Article
31/05/23
On 24 May 2023 the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) published new guidance for employers and businesses relating to responding to Subject Access Requests (SARs). This guidance has been released in the wake of recent enforcement action issued by the ICO to two local authorities, for failure to…
Legal Article
30/05/23
The Department for Education ( DfE ) has recently published draft set of "quality" descriptions for multi-academy trusts ( MATs ). It is hoped by the DfE that this new guidance, provides MATs and single academy trusts looking to expand, with greater clarity surrounding the DfE's…
Legal Article
28/04/23
In light of the ruling in Harpur Trust v Brazel, what should schools be doing with holiday pay for term time workers? The situation with the Harpur Trust case concerns the holiday pay of a part year worker. Now this is very different from being a part time worker, although they sound similar, they…
Legal Article
26/04/23
The Government is currently reviewing opinions on a draft statutory Code of Practice on Dismissal and Re-engagement (often referred to as "fire and rehire"). The consultation opened late January and closed mid April 2023 and no doubt the job now will be for government ministers to wade through…
Legal Article
25/04/23
In a statement published 31 January 2023, the ICO confirmed its view that North Ayrshire Council's (NAC) use of Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) for cashless catering purposes in canteens at nine of its schools is likely to have infringed articles of the UK General Data Protection Regulations (UK…
Legal Article
21/04/23
As many in the education sector know, the Supreme court handed down a landmark judgement in July 2022, ratifying the decisions of the Employment Appeal Tribunal and Court of Appeal, in dismissing the appeals of the Respondent Academy Trust in Harpur Trust v Brazel. Whilst some time has passed since the…
Legal Article
18/04/23
On the 29th November 2022 the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reclassified all colleges and their subsidiaries as public sector bodies. It is important to note that despite the reclassification, colleges will continue to be self-governing, retaining responsibility for their educational character,…
Legal Article
08/03/23
In our most recent Education Q&A, Ruth Rule-Mullen (Partner and Head of Public Sector Employment), Gemma Duxbury (Partner, Governance, Procurement and Information), Lucy Harris (Partner, Insurance) and Chris Bowers (Partner, Dispute Resolution) answer your Education questions: 1. If an employee…
Legal Article
01/02/23
Following on from the decision in DSN v Blackpool Football Club Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 1352, the High Court were asked to consider principles of vicarious liability in the matter of MXX v A Secondary School [2022] EWHC 2707 (QB). Background In MXX v A Secondary School the Claimant, a pupil…
Legal Article
01/02/23
1. Clearing up confusion around who can/ cannot strike · Only teachers in England who are a member of the NEU and teachers who are not a member of a union can strike. If you have members of support staff who belong to the NEU, the ballot was not met entitling support staff to strike in…
Legal Article
25/01/23
On the 16th of January 2023, the National Education Union (NEU), being one of the trade unions representing the teaching profession, announced 9 out of 10 of its members voted to strike after taking part in a ballot. According to the NEU teachers are going to strike over a mix of low play and…
Legal Article
24/01/23
Researchers have detected a possible increase in deaths from mesothelioma in women in the late 40s to mid 60s age group who may have had exposure to asbestos material in school buildings. The latest study has prompted teaching unions to propose a study in conjunction with Professor Julian Peto. The…
Legal Article
24/01/23
Please see below for a summary of the questions answered by Ruth Rule-Mullen and James Barron (Education, Employment), Stephen McArdle (Dispute Resolution), Gemma Duxbury and Laura Rae (Governance, Procurement and Information) and Catherine Kennedy (Property) at our Education Q&A on 19th January…
Legal Article
24/01/23
Admissions appeals and disputes are well known to be highly contentious and emotive. Once a decision has been made after an appeal has been heard, that decision is final. Whilst is possible for complaints to be made to the Local Government Ombudsman (maintained schools) or the Department of Education (…
Legal Article
20/01/23
On 13 December 2022, OFSTED published their annual report detailing the outcome of their inspections and regulation of education providers between September 2021 and August 2022. The report specifically considers the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic recovery. Essentially, recovery in education…
Legal Article
20/01/23
Chaos is set to sweep across the public sector, as the Country's largest Teaching Union approves strike action that could trigger the biggest shutdown of schools due to strike for many years. The strike action is set to affect schools across England and Wales on numerous dates throughout February…
Legal Article
18/01/23
Newcastle City Council have recently been fined £280,000 due to the tragic death of a six-year-old girl, who sadly died at school after being struck by a falling tree. The fatality is a stark reminder of the necessity for Councils to prioritise the safe management of trees on school land.…
Forbes News
17/01/23
On the 16 January 2023, the NEU announced that their members had balloted for strike action and unlike the NASUWT ballot, the required thresholds had been met. The strike action is set to affect schools across England and Wales on numerous dates throughout February and March, with the first date…
Legal Article
16/01/23
In July 2022, the Supreme Court held that holiday entitlement under the Working Time Regulations 1998 for permanent part-year workers should not be pro-rated and that anyone on a year-round contract is entitled to 5.6 weeks of holiday pay, calculated using a holiday entitlement reference period of 52…
