SCHOOL TEACHERS’ PAY
PAY SAFEGUARDING
Guidance for NUT Members in England and Wales 2015-16
Background
This document gives guidance on the various provisions for pay safeguarding set out in the STPCD for teachers who have lost their posts or suffered pay cuts following school closure or school reorganisation.
This document, like other NUT advice documents on school teachers’ pay, gives advice on the provisions of the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) which apply automatically to all teachers in local authority maintained schools. If you teach in an academy, you need to establish whether you are covered by the provisions of the STPCD before you use this guidance[1].
What we say
When you read through this document you may have questions about what happens in your particular school or workplace and there may be collective issues that affect other members. In most circumstances, you should discuss the matter with your workplace rep initially as s/he will know whether similar concerns have been raised by other members. If you do not have a rep at the moment, it would be a good idea to get members together to elect one. Further advice on this is available at
Although members may sometimes feel that they are the only person who is affected by or concerned about a particular issue, in reality this is seldom the case – and everyone needs to achieve a work/life balance. As a member of the NUT, you have the advantage of being able to act collectively with your colleagues. This will give you the confidence of knowing that you have the weight of the Union behind you.
What is pay safeguarding?
Pay safeguarding happens when a teacher’s salary is reduced (see below). It offers protection of a teacher’s pay entitlement for a maximum period of three years[2].
Safeguarding can take place when a teacher’s salary drops as a result of moving to a new post because of a restructuring exercise; reduction or removal of TLR or SEN payments; or school closure where the teacher works to another school for the same employer.
The system safeguards an identified cash amount, the “safeguarded sum”, which is not increased or reduced in line with annual pay scale increases. The safeguarded sum is the difference between your new salary and your old salary. Safeguarding is for a maximum of 3 years from the “relevant date”[3]. It is removed entirely at the end of the 3-year period and can be removed earlier where pay increases overtake the value of safeguarding or in other specified circumstances.
Teachers in receipt of safeguarding worth more than £500 can be asked to undertake “reasonable” additional duties in return for safeguarding.
When can safeguarding end?
Safeguarding can end before the maximum three years in the following circumstances.
- At the end of the period for which payments were originally made, for example, at the end of fixed-period payments.
- Where teachers move to a higher point on the pay scale or higher level of allowance and the combined value of the new point and/or allowance is higher than the combined value of the old point and any safeguarding.
- Where teachers leave the school, unless general safeguarding applies.
- Where teachers are moved to a different pay scale or spine, except threshold progression or in cases of general safeguarding/internal school reorganisation.
- Where teachers “unreasonably” refuse to carry out additional duties that governing bodies “reasonably” consider appropriate and commensurate with the safeguarded sum, as set out below.
What is meant by “additional duties”?
Where teachers receive safeguarding worth more than £500 p.a., governing bodies can allocate such additional duties as they “reasonably” consider appropriate and commensurate with the safeguarded sum. This now applies to all teachers with safeguarding.
Where teachers “unreasonably” refuse to carry out such additional duties, governing bodies can decide to end safeguarding. Teachers must be notified in writing at least a month before the payments end, with decisions subject to appeal in the usual way. Where safeguarding ends, teachers cannot be required to carry on undertaking such additional duties under these provisions.
What if I take on a temporary promotion?
When teachers agree temporarily to undertake other posts for which TLRs or leadership group pay are payable, their safeguarding payments are either reduced or discontinued, depending on whether the additional pay is lower or higher than the safeguarded sum. Safeguarding payments resume when the temporary upgrading ends, so that teachers can accept such temporary promotions without risking loss of safeguarding.
Is it possible to be in receipt of more than one safeguarded sum?
Some teachers are in receipt of a number of different types of safeguarding. These safeguarded sums are regarded as separate and can be removed one by one, with the smaller or smallest ending first, as their pay increases.
What is “general safeguarding”?
“General safeguarding” applies on a mandatory basis to teachers who lose their posts as a result of closure, amalgamation or school reorganisation but who subsequently remain employed in other posts in the same local authority. Each local authority also has the discretion to apply general safeguarding to teachers who have lost their posts in circumstances other than closure, amalgamation or reorganisation but remain employed in the same authority.
General safeguarding taking effect before 1 January 2006 applies on a permanent basis and is not subject to 3-year cash safeguarding.
General safeguarding taking effect after 1 January 2006 is cash safeguarding for 3 years as for other types of safeguarding. General safeguarding taking effect on or after 1 January 2006 can end where:
- teachers unreasonably refuse to accept alternative posts in the same LA;
- the pay in the substantive posts increases beyond the general safeguarded pay, excluding progression on the Main or Upper Pay Ranges;
- they move voluntarily to a different pay spine (excluding progression between the Main and Upper Pay Ranges); or
- their employment ends, except in circumstances where general safeguarding would apply.
General safeguarding does not end where there is a change in teachers’ working hours. Part-time teachers subject to safeguarding provisions other than those arising as a result of the changes to part-time teachers’ pay arrangements must be paid safeguarding on a pro rata basis.
What about safeguarding for TLR payments?
Safeguarding applies where teachers holding TLR payments are affected by changes in the school’s staffing structure (being moved to new posts or given revised responsibilities with lower or no TLR payments) or by changes in the school’s pay policy which cut the value of TLR payments. Teachers affected by reduction or removal of TLRs must be notified in writing and within a month of the decision of the reason for the governing body’s decision, the date on which their TLRs will end or reduce, and the value of their safeguarded sums.
Where a part time teacher has TLR safeguarding, an increase in the proportion of FTE worked (i.e. number of hours worked) may lead to an end to TLR safeguarding if the actual cash value of any new TLR being paid becomes higher than the cash value of the former TLRbeing safeguarded (even though the FTE value of the former TLR remains higher than that of the new TLR).
What about safeguarding for SEN allowances?
Where the governing body makes a change to its organisation of SEN provision or to its pay policy which results in the value of an SEN allowance being reduced or withdrawn, the safeguarding rules under para 31 of Section 2 of the 2015 apply (para 32.1(c)).
What about safeguarding for Leadership Group Teachers, ASTs, ETs and Leading Practitioners?
Where schools decide to reduce the number of such teachers; or to reduce pay ranges or salaries and such teachers would otherwise lose pay as a result of taking up new posts or being paid on new pay ranges,affectedteachers will receive safeguarding on a cash basis for a maximum of three years. The safeguarded sum is the difference between teachers’ former pay and the new pay entitlement including any TLR or SEN allowance awarded. The provisions also apply to former ASTs or ETs who lost those designations when the AST and ET grades were discontinued on 31 August 2013, and to any Leading Practitioner teachers subsequently affected by reorganisation.
Safeguarding may end before the end of the 3-year period where:
- teachers have lost their leadership group or AST posts and become classroom teachers and then become entitled to pay in their new posts which is higher than their original pay entitlements; or
- teachers have been affected by reductions in pay ranges and then become entitled to pay in their new posts which is higher than their original entitlements on their new ranges become higher than their original pay entitlements; or
- teachers cease to be classroom teachers or move school, except where general safeguarding applies.
Teachers in receipt of safeguarding worth more than £500 are, again, subject to the provisions requiring governing bodies to consider the allocation of additional duties. Unreasonable refusal to carry out such duties may lead to the loss of safeguarding.
Are there any pension implications?
The Teachers’ Pension Scheme offers some protection to teachers against losing pension entitlements as a result of pay cuts prior to retirement.
For members in the final salary scheme the salary on which the pension is based is the higher of the salary in the last year before retirement, or the average of the best three consecutive years in the last ten (revalued with CPI inflation), i.e. highest relative earnings within these ten years. Members whose safeguarded salary expires and who are close to retirement will almost certainly have their pension based on the second definition.
For members in the career average scheme, each year of pension accrual is worked out separately, so pay cuts prior to retirement will cut the pension accrued thereafter (though past pension accrual will not be affected).
Where should I look for further information?
NUT guidance on the teachers’ pay structure
Link to all NUT pay guidance documents:
The 2015 School Teachers’ Pay & Conditions Document can be found at
Where should I go for further advice and support?
If you require further advice regarding a problem connected with pay safeguarding you should discuss the matter with the NUT rep at your school, academy or college in the first instance. Advice is also available from the NUT AdviceLine by telephoning 020 3006 6266 or emailing . Members in Wales should contact NUT Cymru on 029 2049 1818 or email .
NUT
Advice, Policy and Campaigns Dept
September 2015
[1] Teachers employed in local authority maintained schools are statutorily covered by the provisions of the STPCD. Many academies and academy chains also employ teaching staff according to terms of the STPCD, but they are not obliged to do so (except in the case of teachers whose STPCD rights are protected by TUPE legislation following the school’s transfer to academy contracts). Members working in academies should check with their NUT rep or should refer to their contracts in cases of doubt.
[2]General safeguarding in place prior to 1 January 2006 and safeguarding for head teachers whose ISRs were reduced prior to 1 September 2005, continue to have permanent effect, as explained below.
[3] The relevant date is 1 January (for decisions made between 1 September-31 December); 1 April (for decisions made between 1 January and 31 March); and 1 September (for decisions made between 1 April and 31 August).