COVID and Communication: How the rise in infection rates may continue to cause employment issues in the Education sector

In the past week, media outlets have been reporting that almost two thirds of secondary school children had been self-isolating, up a significant increase from the week before. Similarly, it is estimated that the number of primary school children needing to self-isolate has doubled in the past week. Unfortunately, it is currently unknown how many members of staff have been required to self-isolate in previous weeks, as these have not been accounted for in the Government's figures.

Swamped with Subject Access Requests?

The cancellation of this year's GCSE and A-level exams gave Ofqual an unprecedented challenge in determining how grades should be awarded whilst providing the fairest means of enabling students to move on to further studies or employment.

This unprecedented decision by Ofqual meant that schools were likely to see an influx of subject access requests (SARs) where parents, carers or students were concerned that the grade has been affected by bias or discrimination.

Public Sector Pay Freeze

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced, in what many may see as a brave move given the current stresses on the public sector, that there will be a pay freeze on public sector workers. An expenditure review has been conducted resulting in a pay freeze for civil servants, teachers, police, firefighters, the armed forces, and council staff. It excludes frontline NHS workers and lower paid workers, but for other public sector workers pay rises will be paused.

Health and Safety related dismissals in the Age of COVID-19: What do school business leaders need to be aware of?

On Thursday, 19 June 2020 our Employment team delivered a Mock Tribunal covering a dismissal involving a complex number of issues including health and safety issues. To give a brief overview, the Claimant in our scenario worked from home for the majority of the initial lockdown period beginning in March 2020. The Claimant was then asked to return to school when the Government asked for secondary schools to commence a period of wider reopening.

Upcoming Events

2nd December - Live Eduaction Q&A - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/education-qa-tickets-130555335523

28th January - Interactive Mock Health & Safety Prosecution - Education Sector - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/interactive-mock-health-safety-prosecution-education-sector-tickets-125815171565