Support Staff

ACADEMIES AND IMPACT ON TERMS AND CONDITIONS

What happens to a support staff member’s terms and conditions if s/he transfers to an Academy under TUPE from a maintained school?

Continuous service and contractual benefits on transfer (redundancy, leave, sickness and maternity pay etc) are fully protected. For example , if you TUPE transferred to an academy, you will have the same sick leave as you would have had, had you remained in a maintained school.

Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)

If you are currently a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme this will continue unaffected. Specific arrangements will depend on how the Scheme is administered by the Local Authority pension fund to which the Academy belongs. On appointment, the Academy should be able to provide you with literature about the Scheme and keep you up to date with developments. The Academy should also be able to give you a contact point at the local authority if you need to contact them about your pension.

If you are not currently a member, you will automatically be enrolled to the Academy’s pension scheme unless you opt out.

What happens to a support staff member’s terms and conditions if s/he has transferred to an Academy under TUPE from a maintained school and then applies for and is appointed to a job back in a maintained school?

So long as there is not a break in service the employee will have continuous service for the purposes of calculating any potential future redundancy payment (because Academies are included in the local government Redundancy Modification Order [RMO]).

Certain contractual benefits (leave, sickness and maternity pay) are also fully protected, providing there has not been a break in service and/or in circumstances where the employee has had a break in service for maternity reasons or reasons concerning caring for children or other dependents, subject to a specific timescale (see paragraph 14.2 of the Green Book).

Pension

On any new appointment to a maintained school, you can apply to transfer a pension that you have already built up in the LGPS and/or other pension arrangement.

What happens to a support staff member’s terms and conditions if s/he is employed by a maintained school and then applies for and is appointed to a job in an Academy?

Redundancy

So long as there is not a break in service the employee will have continuous service for the purposes of calculating any potential future redundancy payment (because Academies are included in the local government Redundancy Modification Order (RMO)).

Contractual maternity and sickness provision

The terms and conditions offered by the school on appointment are those that will apply. It is possible that the Academy has adopted different terms and conditions for new staff or negotiated different terms for all staff. For example, it may offer occupational sick leave; however, you will need to establish how you would qualify.

Pensions

The applicant should check what pensions arrangements are offered to new staff by the Academy.