This keynote session looks at litigation and claims, employment changes, safeguarding guidance, governance law and best practice.

1. Education law conferences 2018
Keynote 3: 12 changes to education law

2. 12 changes to education law, guidance
and practice that all schools must know
Join the conversation #BJ_EDC

3. Range of areas
• Litigation and claims
• Employment changes
• Safeguarding guidance
• Governance law
• Best practice

4. 1. Failure to educate claims
Rhys Brown –v- Lancing College 2018
Claiming £650k damages
for LC failing to make
reasonable adjustments
for his epilepsy
OU not at fault for 2:1 –
graduate may have
‘simply coasted’
Faiz Saddiqui –v- Oxford University 2018

5. 2. Fighting at the Christmas party
Bellman –v- Northampton Recruitment ET 2016
If your staff need to
fight, do it after 3am
somewhere else

6. 3. Gender Pay Gap reporting
• Requirement since 31 March 2017
• 250 employees (including ‘workers’)
• Publish a statement:
• on the website; and
• to the government for publication online

7. 4. PILON tax changes
From 6 April 2018:
• All PILONS taxable and subject to class 1 NICs
• Termination payments above £30,000 now subject to
employer NICs rather than just income tax

8. 5. Sexual violence guidance 2017
• Supplements existing safeguarding
guidance
• Helpful advice on risk assessment and
actions to take following a disclosure
• Alleged victim/perpetrator sharing a
classroom

9. 6. Keeping Children Safe 2018 consultation
Annex lists changes. Four worth noting:
• Para 55 - tweaked to confirm MATs can
have an overarching CP policy
• Para 144 – duty to refer when you
suspend a member of staff
• Para 178 – Now five possible outcomes
to an allegation investigation

10. 7. Working Together 2018 consultation
• Replacing LSCBs with local
safeguarding partners
• Establishing new national Child
Safeguarding Practice Review
Panel
• Child deaths now to be reviewed
by Child Death Review Partners

11. 8. Challenging Ofsted
• Ofsted not allowing reconsideration of
‘inadequate’ judgment was unlawful
• “not a rational or fair process”
• No ruling on merits of special measures
judgment itself
• Case does not mean all ‘inadequate
judgments are unlawful

12. 9. Exclusions
• Shift at IRP to governors’ decision, not
head’s decision
• Governor representative should now take
the lead at IRP hearing
• Governors likely to need training

13. Sli.do – vote now
Have your governors been trained on the new guidance?
• Yes
• No
• Don’t know

14. 10 GDPR
• Update your documents
• Appoint your Data Protection
Officer (DPO)
• Train your DPO

15. 11. Pupil mental health
• Significant issue within schools
• Senior leads for mental health from
2019
• New mental health support teams for
in school treatment
• Staff to be trained

16. Sli.do – vote now
Do you evidence outcomes of your training or is it just
inputs?
• We measure outputs
• We only measure inputs
• We have no real measure

17. 12. Staff training and updates
• All about the evidence
• Review how staff are trained and how regular updates are
provided
• Think about ways to engage staff and evidence outcomes:
• Staff quiz
• Survey monkey
• Questions in team meeting
• Plenty of others

18. www.brownejacobson.com/education

19. Please note
The information contained in these notes is based on the
position at March 2018. It does, of course, only represent a
summary of the subject matter covered and is not intended to
be a substitute for detailed advice. If you would like to discuss
any of the matters covered in further detail, our team would
be happy to do so.
© Browne Jacobson LLP 2018. Browne Jacobson LLP is a
limited liability partnership.