Guidance Note for Schools – Flexible Working Arrangements

This guidance note provides schools with information on some common flexible working arrangements. Flexible working allows employers to attract and retain high quality employees, by allowing them to achieve a work life balance suitable to their circumstances. This needs to be balanced with the demands of the school and arrangements needs to be operational feasibility. Staff can make a request for flexible working in line with the flexible working request procedure.

Types of Flexible Working Arrangements:

There are a number of different flexible working patterns and arrangements. Four of the most common are detailed below:

1.  Part Time:

Part time work is where an employee works less hours than a standard full time position. The pay and benefits are pro rata according to the hours worked.

Access to part time arrangements areas follows:

·  You apply for a vacancy that is advertised as a part time role or

·  Current employees apply for part time hours in their existing post by completing a flexible working request form

All positions should be available for part time. Howeverschools have the right to review the suitability of a post for part time work if specific business reasons prevent a job being reduced in hours.

Pay and hours

Pay will be for thenumber of hours worked and paid on a pro rata basis. Managers should explain to staff how their pay will be affected.

2.  Job Share:

Job sharing is a working pattern where two people share the responsibilities and benefits of one full time position. The employees collaborate and co-ordinate their activities to complete the work of one job. The pay and benefits are divided between the partners according to the hours worked.

Division of Posts

The minimum number of hours to be worked each week is 2 standard days with the total hours of the job sharing partnership being equal to those of the full time post. There are no fixed rules regarding working arrangements for job sharers, where it is essential to have a changeover period between the job sharers, this will be achieved within the normal established total hours of the post.

Access to job share arrangements areas follows:

·  You apply for a vacancy that is advertised as a job share or

·  Current employees apply for a job share arrangement in their existing post

·  two existing employees in identical posts asking to share one of their current posts.

Advertised Vacancies

All posts can be considered and advertised as suitable for job sharing,except in exceptional circumstances where the Headteacher/Governing Bodycan demonstrate that the post is not suitable, for operational reasons.

All job sharers, including those making joint applications will be interviewed separately.

If only one job sharer applies for a post, and that person is successful in gaining the appointment, an advertisement for a job share partner will be placed, unless, however there is another appointable candidate, who would be willing to accept the appointment on a job share basis.

Existing Employees

If an existing member of staff wishes to share their existing full time post, they should make a flexible working request, explaining in detail their reasons for making this request. Where, in exceptional circumstances, an application is rejected, full reasons will be given, and the member of staff will be entitled to appeal against this decision.

If the application is accepted the remaining part of the job will be advertised. The member of staff will continue to work full time if necessary until a suitable job share partner has been found. The school will endeavour to fill the other part of the post as soon as possible, however if no suitable job share partner can be found the job will be reviewed and may revert to a full time post.

Where two job sharers make a joint application for another post, they will be interviewed separately. If one of the job share partners is considered suitable but the other is not, then it will be up to the successful candidate to decide whether they wish to accept the post on that basis. The remaining half of the post will then be advertised.

Joint Applications from Existing Employees Wishing to ShareOne ofTheir Posts

Where two employees in the same post wish to job share one of their existing posts they must complete a flexible working request. If the post is approved as suitable for job sharing, the manager will discuss the proposed working arrangements with the two potential job sharers. Where both applicants are employed in the same job, there will not be any need to interview.

Where two employees in different posts wish to job share one of their existing posts, then if the post is approved as being suitable for job sharing, it will be advertised in the normal way and the prospective job sharer will have the opportunity to apply.

If the application is successful the resultant vacancy will have to be advertised with the two job sharing applicants continuing to work full time until an appointment is made.

Procedure When a Job-sharer Leaves

If a job sharer leaves, in the first instance the remaining job sharer will be offered the post on a full time basis. If they do not wish to work full time, another job share partner will be recruited by the usual procedure. In the meantime it will be the Headteacher`s responsibility to ensure that the duties of the post are adequately covered. Any arrangement which involves the remaining job sharer working additional hours in the interim period can only be made with that member of staff’s full agreement.

If no suitable job share partner can be found after the post has been advertised, it will be necessary to review the staffing needs within that work area, which will include possible restructuring of the workload.

This may lead to the post being advertised on a full time basis. In such casesthe job share arrangement will be terminated and the remaining job sharer will be reoffered the post on a full time basis.

If the employee however declines this offer, every effort will be made to redeploy them to another suitable part time position, where the conditions of service are no less favourable than their original job share post.

In exceptional circumstances where no such alternative can be found, or is refused, then ultimately the employee will be dismissed .

A standard clause will be included in all job sharers contracts of employment stating that “this contract relates to your employment on a job share basis. Should your job share partner leave, or otherwise have their contract terminated, you will be offered the post on a full time basis. If you do not wish to work full time, every effort will be made to seek a suitable alternative job share partner. If this is not successful however, you will be re-offered the post on a full time basis. If this is not acceptable to you, every effort will be made to offer you a suitable alternative part time post. In exceptional circumstances where no such redeployment opportunity can be found, or is refused, then your employment will be terminated.”

Grade and Rate of Pay

For Support Staff the grade of a job share post will be that which applies to the full time post being shared. For teaching staff, each individual will be paid in line with the teachers pay point confirmed to them by the school, in line with the school pay and appraisal policy and national conditions of service.

Job sharers will be paid pro rata to the full time rate for the number of hours worked. Commencing salary and increments will be paid in accordance with the STPCD for teacher, NJC for Local Government Services and local practice. Individual sharers may therefore be offered different rates of pay due to their incremental point on the agreed scale.

3.  Term Time Only

Term time working is where contractual hours are worked during school term times and annual leave / unpaid time is taken off work during school holidays.

Working Time

A term time contract will normally consists of 39 weeks (195 days) of working time and 13 weeks (65 days) of non working time which coincide with school holidays (however this can vary).

The total number of weeks to be worked per year and the actual dates must be agreed by the employee and manager at the start of the arrangement. This should be based on factors such as when school terms and school holidays occur.

Salary

Salary is pro rata’d to the number of weeks worked during the year and paid in 12 equal instalments, (or a pro rata number of instalments if the term-time working arrangement commences partway through the year).

Annual leave and bank holiday entitlements are included in the salary payment. For example: an employee who works 39 weeks per year and has less than 5 years continuous service will receive the equivalent of 44 weeks pay per year (45 weeks after 5 years continuous service).

Should an employee leave part way through a school term they will be paid the pro rata rate up to the end date. Annual leave and bank holiday entitlement will be recalculated with reference to the proportion of the leave year worked.

Examples of how annual leave and bank holiday is calculated for term time working contracts

Annual leave entitlements
39 – Number of weeks worked on a term time contract
52 – Number of weeks worked on a full time contract
4.8 weeks – Basic holiday entitlement
39 / 52 x 4.8 (24 days) = 3.6 weeks (18 days)

Bank holiday entitlement
39 – Number of weeks worked on a term time contract
52 – Number of weeks worked on a full time contract
8 – Bank holidays in a year
8 / 52 x 39 = 1.2 weeks (6 days)

Total salary inclusive of annual leave & bank holiday
39 wks (working time) + 3.6 wks (annual leave entitlement) + 1.2 wks (bank holiday entitlement = 43.8 weeks (rolled up to 44 wks). 44 / 52 weeks = 85% of full time salary

Unpaid leave during term time

Annual leave is not permitted to be taken outside the school holiday periods, however Headteachers may authorise unpaid leave in exceptional circumstances. Employees are expected to schedule appointments such as dental check ups during school holidays wherever possible.

Making a request to work term time

All requests to work term time must be made to the Headteacher by completing a flexible working request form. The Flexible Working Procedure sets out the step-by-step process that must be followed.

Any decision regarding term time working arrangements will be made in light of the operational requirements of the department, customer service and the needs of other employees.

When reviewing a request the following factors will be considered:

•The requirement for continuity throughout the year
•The impact on workload, skills availability and working arrangements of other employees during school holidays
•Staff costs associated with the arrangement

School Term Time Information

The legislation around school opening times currently requires that Local Authority schools open for pupils to be taught for a total of 190 days / 38 weeks per year. In addition school employees are required to attend for a further 5 days of training when pupils are not present at school. In this regard non teaching employees in schools who work term time are required to be present at work for 195 days / 39 weeks.

All schools publish their term opening and closure dates in advance of the academic year and this information should be used by the manager and employee to plan agreed attendance at work a year in advance.

Different Local Authorities set their term dates independently, so the start and ending of terms in any given year may vary between local authorities. In addition different types of school (e.g. those in the private sector or those that are Academies), have greater flexibility about there school opening periods.

4.0 Compressed Hours:

Compressed hours are where contracted hours are worked over a shorter number of days than the standard working week. (More hours are worked on fewer days). Compressed hours will normally be scheduled within a bandwidth of 7am until 7 pm. However these times may be adjusted to meet the needs of the school. Hours worked outside this band width may potentially incur out of hours working payments.

Start times, finish times and the designated rest day should be agreed by the employee and their manager to meet the needs of the school. It should be noted that rest days may not always be fixed and can change based on operational need. Care should be taken to ensure that long periods are not worked that might lead to excessive fatigue or be in contravention of the Working Time Regulations.

Examples of compressed hours work patterns

Detailed below are some examples of compressed hour work patterns for a standard 37 hour week.

Example A: 37 hours worked over 4 days in a 5 day cycle
Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday
9.25hrs / 9.25hrs / Rest day / 9.25hrs / 9.25hrs
Example B : 74 hours worked over 9 days in a 10 day cycle
Monday /
Tuesday /
Wednesday /
Thursday /
Friday
8 / 8.5 / 7.5 / 7.5 / 7
Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday
Rest day / 9 / 9 / 8.5 / 9

Breaks

Where more than six hours at a time are worked, a minimum of a 30 minute break must be taken. (Young workers age 16 & 17 must take a minimum of 30 minutes break if they work more than four and a half hours). Breaks are not paid and must be recorded as non-working time.