Staff

The Sponsor believes that high expectations are important to the academic and vocational success of the Academy. A clear structure of responsibility and accountability between staff and students would ensure that expectations are realised or surpassed and that mutual support between staff and students leads to academic and vocational achievement.

Whether students opt for the academic or the vocational route, staff would look for links between different areas in the curriculum and encourage students to be aspirational. The overriding sense must be that students and staff are working as a team with a common purpose. The staff would challenge all students and demonstrate that learning can be fun as well as satisfying.

1. What is TUPE?

TUPE is an abbreviation referring to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006.

The purpose of these regulations is to protect the employment rights of employees where there is a transfer in ownership or responsibility for an organisation, i.e. where the employer changes.

The regulations determine when the additional protection given by the TUPE regulations applies, and it is clear that they apply in respect of the proposed transfer of employment from Kings High School to The Bourne Academy Trust.

2. What impact do the TUPE regulations have?

Broadly speaking, the effect of the Regulations is to provide for the transfer of the employment of eligible staff, on their existing contracts of employment, to the new employer. Continuity of service is thereby preserved as are collective agreements and trade union recognition arrangements.

This means that employees employed by the previous employer (the “transferor”), when the transfer takes effect, automatically become employees of the new employer (the “transferee”). It is as if their contracts of employment had originally been made with the transferee employer. There is no requirement for transferring staff to ‘apply’ to work in the Academy.

Representatives of affected employees have a right to be informed about a proposed transfer. They must also be consulted about any ‘measures’ which the transferor or transferee employer envisages taking concerning the affected employees.

The recognition arrangements with the existing employer, with trade unions, for the purposes of consultation and negotiation, and any collective agreements that exist, also automatically transfer to the new employer.

The Regulations place a duty on the existing employer to provide information about the transferring workforce to the new employer before the transfer occurs.

3. Who employs staff within an Academy?

Academies operate independently of a local authority in a similar way to Voluntary Aided and Foundation Schools. The Academy Trust is an independent organisation which receives funding, mostly from the DCSF, to run the Academy. The current employer for staff of Kings High School is Bournemouth Borough Council, and eligible staff will transfer into the employment of The Bourne Academy Trust.

4. Which staff will transfer across to the Academy?

Staff who transfer are those staff who, on the date of transfer (31st August/1st September 2010), are working wholly or mainly at Kings High School (full time or part time) and whose employment is due, under their contract of employment, to continue after that date. So the transfer applies to permanent staff and to temporary/fixed term staff where the end date of their contract is after the date of transfer, when the employment will be reviewed or terminated as it would have been in any event.

Transfer arrangements do not apply to people working in the school on a ‘casual’ basis, e.g. supply staff or hourly paid peripatetic staff.

5. How do the TUPE regulations provide protection to transferring staff?

One of the things that the regulations do is to place some obligations on both the outgoing and the proposed employer on the information and consultation that they must undertake in relation to the transfer. So, for example, the recognised trade union representatives must be informed in writing of the proposed transfer, and the regulations specify that the following information must be provided to trade union representatives:

Detail of the transfer including:

  • when it is expected to happen
  • the reasons why it is happening
  • any legal, social and economic implications for staff
  • any ‘measures’ (i.e. changes) which either the transferor or transferee employer is considering taking in relation to those employees

This information is provided in writing in a letter which is sometimes referred to as the ‘Section 13’ or ‘measures’ letter. The regulations require that, where an employer proposes to take any ‘measures’ (make changes), the employer must consult with the appropriate representatives on those measures, in 'good time' before the transfer.

Any employer may, at any time, propose changes to staff structures and to conditions of service and is subject to the general requirements, arising from employment law, to consult on such changes, to act reasonably and to follow certain processes in the implementation of any such changes. Where staff are subject to a TUPE transfer there is an additional limitation on the employer that any proposed changes, which are linked to the transfer, must be for economic, technical and organisational reasons.

This additional TUPE protection, in relation to the terms and conditions of employment applies for a period of time after transfer but is not permanent. Neither the regulations nor case law tell us how long the TUPE period of protection must be assumed to apply – in fact the case law indicates that this must be judged on the particular circumstances.

6. What changes might the Academy Trust propose to make to the staffing structure?

The Trust, through the principal designate, will develop a proposed staffing structure for the Academy which will be made available to existing staff and to trade union representatives to comment on, as part of the consultation process. This is most likely to involve changes to roles for leadership and management posts but may also impact on other staff at the school.

The mechanisms by which any changes to the staffing structure, or to existing roles, will be implemented will depend on the nature of those changes and will also be subject to consultation.

7. What does TUPE mean in relation to my terms and conditions of employment?

The terms and conditions that are contained in your contract of employment, at the point of transfer, transfer to the new employer. This includes the national conditions of service for teaching and support staff, which are incorporated into your contract of employment.
The Academy can vary those terms and conditions of employment, where the proposed variation is connected with the transfer, if the changes are for economic, technical or organisational reasons.

The Council’s support staff pay and grading exercise is expected to have been completed before the date of transfer. The terms and conditions of employment in place at the point of transfer, i.e. on 31st August 2010, will be the ones that transfer to the Academy.

8. What will happen to my pension?

All staff employed by academies automatically fall within the Teachers Pension Scheme (for teaching staff) or the Local Government Pension Scheme (for support or non teaching staff) on the same basis as teaching and support staff in maintained schools. The pension scheme membership with either of these schemes will continue after the transfer in exactly the same way.

9. What happens to my previous service?

Under the TUPE regulations, continuity of employment is preserved and the current period of continuous service transfers to the new employer. Similarly should staff subsequently move from an Academy to a local authority school, without a break, continuous service will be aggregated for pension and redundancy purposes.

10. Do I have to transfer to the Academy?

Employees who are eligible to transfer can decide to object to their transfer and not transfer to the new Academy. An employee who does this is treated as if they have resigned, with effect from the transfer date (i.e. 31st August 2010). The local authority is not expected, or required, to offer alternative employment and no redundancy or severance payment is available.

Any employee considering the option of not transferring should take account of the standard resignation notice periods:

  • A teacher would need to resign by 31st May if s/he did not wish to transfer.
  • Support staff would normally have to give one month's notice.

It is recommended that any employee considering objecting to the transfer seeks advice, e.g. from their trade union representative, solicitor or the Citizens Advice Bureau.

11. What information is provided about existing staff to the Academy?

TUPE regulations require the local authority and the Kings High governing body to provide The Bourne Academy Trust with personal and contractual details of staff employed in the school who will transfer, e.g. name, address, date of birth, salary range or grade, hours and weeks worked, job title, job descriptions, pension scheme membership.

They must also provide all the Council agreements that apply to conditions of service and just before transfer provide existing personal files and information on any relevant disciplinary, capability, ill health, grievance or related issues.