This session provided tips, tools and advice to avoid falling foul of the top five HR risks schools face.

1. The Education HR in the North West Conference
January 2018, Manchester
Top five HR Risks and how to avoid them

2. Session summary
Tips, tools and advice to avoid
falling foul of the top five HR
risks schools face

3. Risk 1 – Recruiting and retaining staff
• Research conducted by Grant Thornton (2016) estimate that
by 2020/21, an additional 13,800 teachers will be needed
but that the government has no long term plan to address
the rising issue of teacher shortages.
• Schools are increasingly relying on supply staff.
• In some schools up to 20% of teachers are supply teachers
from agencies (The Guardian, 2016).

4. Risk 1 – Recruiting and retaining staff
Why are so many
teachers leaving the
profession?

5. Sli.do – vote now
In a recent survey 42% percentage of teachers said that they
left the profession due to what?
Pay
Opportunities to progress their career
Poor management
Excessive workload
Pressure of inspections

6. Risk 1 – Recruiting and retaining staff
Risks:
• Soaring recruitment costs
• Lack of consistency
• Negative effect on teaching and performance
“For the first time in my career I have had to
‘settle’ for a weak candidate for a teaching
post because the alternative was to have
nobody in front of the class”
Head teacher

7. Risk 1 – Recruiting and retaining staff
What can be done to recruit and retain staff?
• Focus on the negative perception of the teaching
profession
• Consider wellbeing initiatives
• Plan a comprehensive induction process
• Train and develop your employees
• Develop a strategy for succession planning
• Find out why staff stay, not just why they leave
• Be clear about expectations

8. Risk 2 – Compliance
• HR policies will incorporate your legal obligations,
statutory guidance (e.g. KCSIE) and ACAS Guidance
• Failure to comply with your policies could lead to costly
Employment Tribunal claims

9. What is the statutory cap for an unfair dismissal award?
£80,541
£14,670
£6,249
It is uncapped
Sli.do – vote now

10. Risk 2 – Compliance
Other potential risks:
• Poor performance
• High sickness absence costs
• Time and cost of dealing with grievances, disputes &
claims
• Reputational damage
• Difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff
• Safeguarding issues

11. Risk 2 – Compliance
• Make sure that employees are aware and familiar with
policies and procedures
• Conduct training in key policies and associated processes
• Apply policies fairly and consistently

12. Risk 3 – Contracts
Are your contracts putting you at risk?

13. Risk 3 – Contracts
Fixed term contracts
• Expiry of a fixed-term contract is deemed to be a dismissal.
• Fixed-term employees have the right not to be treated less
favourably than comparable permanent employees.
• Fixed term employees are deemed to be permanent if
employed continuously under a succession of fixed-term
contracts for a period of four years or more.

14. Risk 3 – Contracts
Fixed term contracts
• Pay close attention to the wording of the contract
• Deal with the non-renewal of a fixed term contact fairly

15. Risk 3 – Contracts
Redundancy Payments (Continuity of Employment in Local
Government, etc.) (Modification) Order 1999
How does this impact on your contracts?

16. Risk 4 - Funding
• £2.8bn
has been cut from school budgets since 2015
• £54.0k
average cut to primary schools
• £205.6k
average cut to secondary schools
“Recent figures show that more than
9,400 schools – over one third of state
schools – were in deficit in 2015-16.
Almost 4,000 of them have been in
deficit in each of the past two years,
with almost 1,600 in deficit three
years in a row.” TES – October 2017

17. Risk 4 - Funding
www.schoolcuts.org.uk
Teachers
lost
Per pupil
loss (£)
Total loss
by 2020 (£)

18. Risk 4 - Funding
• Balancing the books
• Lack of resource to invest in risk areas e.g. retention,
employee engagement
• Lack of resource for training and development
“Recent figures show that more than
9,400 schools – over one third of state
schools – were in deficit in 2015-16.
Almost4,000 of them have been in
deficit in each of the past two years,
with almost 1,600 in deficit three
years in a row.” TES – October 2017

19. Risk 4 - Funding
Options:
• Restructure
• Efficiencies made on procurement
• Postponing building maintenance
• Putting on hold some orders for new textbooks
• Increase group sizes/combine classes
• Reduce curriculum choice for students
• Narrow pastoral support
• Remove some subjects from the curriculum

20. Risk 5 – Pay
70% of primary and secondary school leaders in England found it
difficult filling teaching and leadership posts in 2017.1
Leaders told us that one of the most significant reasons for the
recruitment (and retention) crisis is the relatively poor starting
salaries compared to other graduate professions.
1 Browne Jacobson and ASCL School Leaders’ Survey 2017

21. Risk 5 – Pay
Academies have significant freedoms to escape from the
compliance and ‘one size fits all’ culture of the School
Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) and the time
serving basis of many pay policies.

22. Risk 5 – Pay

23. www.brownejacobson.com/education

24. Contact us
Gill Martindale | 03300 452110 | Gill.Martindale@brownejacobson.com
Please note
The information contained in these notes is based on the position at January
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.