NUT BRIEFING FOR HOME TUTORS

PAY, CONDITIONS OF SERVICE

AND WORKING TIME

This briefing gives you information on your position as a home tutor with regard to pay, conditions of service and working time.

Types of Contracts

  • Some home tutors are employed on an on-going contract either on a full time or part time basis. This is referred to below as employment on a 'regular basis'. Other home tutors are employed on a series of daily contracts on a supply basis or on a fixed terms or temporary basis. The type of contract will affect the pay rates and conditions of service applicable.
  • The NUT has for many years campaigned against the misuse of fixed term and temporary contracts in teaching. Teachers employed on fixed term and temporary contracts nevertheless have a range of statutory and contractual employment rights. The Fixed Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002 provide that all employers must not treat fixed term or temporary employees less favourably than similar permanent employees with regard to pay, conditions of service and pensions and also place restrictions on the repeated use of fixed term contracts.
  • Circumstances in which the NUT believe the use of fixed term contracts is acceptable:

-to cover a period of leave where the end date is known

-to cover a period of secondment or in-service or educational training

-to fill a post pending appointment being made or pending an appointee taking up the post, provided that the permanent appointment is not unreasonably delayed for longer than a term

  • Circumstances in which the NUT believe the use of temporary contracts is acceptable:

-to cover sickness

-to cover maternity leave where the date that the substantive post holder will return is not known

-to cover any other period of paid/unpaid leave where the end date is not known

-to cover a temporary reduction in the hours of a member of staff

-to cover a short-term temporary increase in workload

  • Circumstances in which the NUT believe the use of fixed term or temporary contracts is unacceptable:

-when the school anticipates falling rolls or budgetary restrictions and wish to use

fixed term contracts because as a means of achieving staffing reduction by not

renewing these at a future date

- where schools wish to impose a probationary period upon a teacher before

confirming their appointment on a permanent basis

  • Home tutors who are unsure of their contract status should contact their NUT Regional/Wales Office for advice.

Rates of Pay

  • Employers are not obliged to pay home tutors on the same basis as teachers employed to teach in schools, whether on a regular full-time or part-time basis or on a supply basis.
  • This is because all home tutors, whatever their type of contract, are defined under the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) as 'unattached teachers' (paragraphs 24.1-24.3 of the Document).
  • The STPCD states that, for unattached teachers, only those provisions of the pay structure which are considered 'appropriate' need be applied by the employer.

Home tutors who are employed on a regular full-time or part-time basis

  • The NUT believes that all such home tutors should be paid on the same basis as teachers employed to work in schools. This means that their salary spine point should, in the NUT's view, be assessed according to the same policy as other teachers and should therefore reflect their qualifications and experience and any additional responsibilities which they may have to undertake.
  • Some employers take advantage of the above provisions and do not pay home tutors employed on a regular full-time or part-time basis at a spine point which reflects their qualifications and experience but instead pay them some other lower salary.

Home tutors who are employed on a part-time basis

  • The method for determining part time teachers’ pay and working time arrangements is set out in the STPCD. This is described fully in the briefing document ‘Part-Time Teachers Pay and Working Time – NUT Guidance’ available from the NUT website at Pay is calculated as a percentage of the schools’ timetabled teaching week and the percentage obtained in the pay calculation is also used to determine part time teachers’ directed time obligations. They will be required to be available for work for the same percentage of 1265 hours as the percentage of full time pay. This percentage of 1265 hours of directed time will cover both the total teaching time and the non-teaching duties undertaken by the part time teacher.

Home tutors who are employed on a supply basis

  • The NUT believes that home tutors who are engaged on a supply basis should be paid on the same rate as other supply teachers.
  • Where they are engaged for the whole day, they should in the NUT's view be paid the daily rate for supply teachers which is 1/195th of the annual salary which they would receive if employed to teach in schools on a full-time basis. Their salary spine point should be again assessed according to the same policy as other teachers and should therefore reflect their qualifications and experience and any additional responsibilities which they may have to undertake.
  • Where they are engaged for periods of less than a day, they should in the NUT's view be paid the hourly rate paid to supply teachers. This hourly rate is determined by the employer. The NUT's recommended hourly rate is 1/975th of the annual salary (based on the 1/195th daily rate and a 5 hour teaching day) while the DFE recommends that any hourly rate should be 'pro rata' to the daily rate of 1/195th according to the number of hours worked and the length of the full working day.
  • While supply teachers do not receive any salary during school closure periods such as holidays and half terms, the calculation of their salary rates by reference to full-time salary rates is intended to ensure that these rates include an element to cover these periods.
  • Again, some employers take advantage of the above provisions and pay home tutors engaged on a supply basis, either for single days or for periods of less than a day, a lower salary than supply teachers engaged to work in a school.

Incremental Salary Progression

  • The provisions of the Pay and Conditions Document mean that employers are not obliged to provide home tutors with incremental progression on the salary scale on the same basis as teachers employed to teach in schools.
  • The NUT believes that all home tutors should be entitled to incremental progression on the same basis as other teachers and that they should receive an additional spine point for experience in September each year, provided they have met the service requirement that they have worked during at least 26 weeks in the previous 12 months, until they reach the maximum Point 6 on the incremental salary scale.
  • The NUT also believes that home tutors who subsequently take up teaching appointments in schools should receive additional spine points for their years of teaching experience as home tutors provided that they have fulfilled the service requirements set out in the previous point.

Threshold Assessment

  • Where home tutors have reached Point 6 on the incremental salary scale, they are entitled to apply for the “threshold assessment” and the higher post-threshold salary scale in the same way as teachers working in schools.
  • Threshold assessments would usually be carried out by the immediate line manager. If there is no obvious individual who would carry out the assessment, the LEA should be contacted for advice.
  • The NUT is able to offer advice and guidance to home tutors on completing threshold application forms and demonstrating that they meet the threshold standards.

Working Time for Home Tutors

Home tutors who are employed on a regular full-time or part-time basis

  • The working time for home tutors employed on a full-time basis will be in accordance with the working time provisions of the Pay and Conditions Document. They can be required to work for up to 1265 hours in any school year and for up to 195 days, of which 190 should be teaching days and 5 non-teaching days.
  • The working time obligations for part-time home tutors should be defined in their contracts of employment and should ensure that their working time obligations are on a pro rata basis to the salary received.

Home tutors who are employed on a supply basis

  • The Pay and Conditions Document does not specify the length of the working day for teachers employed on a supply basis. The DFE has published recommendations with regard to working time for supply teachers. These recommendations are not, however, specifically directed at teachers engaged as home tutors on a supply basis.
  • The DFE recommends that, for supply teachers engaged for a full day, the normal full working day should be considered as 6.5 hours of working time including an element for non-teaching duties. For supply teachers engaged for period of less than a day, of course, their working time will be that for which they are paid.

Other Working Time Issues

Travelling Time

  • The NUT believes that the time spent travelling between pupils' homes during the working day should be counted as working time.
  • The NUT also believes that the time spent travelling at the beginning of the day to the first pupil's home and from the last pupil's home at the end of the day should be taken into account if the distances are excessive either in comparison to the distance to and from the tutor's base office or in comparison to the usual distances travelled.
  • There is a separate NUT briefing for home tutors on travel allowances, ‘NUT Briefing for Home Tutors – Car Mileage Allowances’, available from the NUT website at

Late or Absent Pupils

  • The NUT believes that, where a pupil is not at home or fails to appear, home tutors should always be paid in full as if the pupil had been present for the whole appointed time. The NUT also believes that, where a pupil is late and the appointment over-runs in order that the full teaching time takes place, home tutors should be paid for the whole of this time including the over-run period.

Conditions of Service : Sick Pay, Maternity Pay and Pensions

Home tutorswho are employed on a regular full-time or part-time basis

  • Home tutors employed on a regular full-time or part-time basis are covered by the Burgundy Book national conditions of service agreement, including its provisions on paid sick leave and maternity leave. They will also be covered by any relevant local agreements on conditions of service issues unless specifically excluded from these.
  • Home tutors in regular full-time employment will, like those in regular part-time service, be entitled to membership of the Teachers' Pension Scheme.

Home tutors who are employed on a supply basis

  • Home tutors who are engaged on a day to day supply basis do not enjoy the same entitlements and their conditions of service will not usually provide, for example, for paid sick leave or maternity leave. There are, however, certain limited circumstances in which home tutors employed on a supply basis may be entitled to receive sick pay or maternity pay.
  • Home tutors employed on a supply basis will, like those in regular part-time service, be entitled to membership of the Teachers' Pension Scheme, provided they are employed by a local authority or school. This does not apply to those who obtain work through agencies.

Getting Advice from Your Union

The NUT advises members who are home tutors and who wish to seek advice about their pay, working time or conditions of service such as sick pay, maternity pay and leave and pensions to contact the appropriate NUT Regional Office or, in Wales, the NUT Wales Office, NUT Cymru.

National Union of Teachers

October 2010

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