A Practical Guide to Advising Schools on Employment Law

Advising educational establishments on their rights and responsibilities as an Employer is an increasingly complex and specialist area; particularly with the drive towards academisation, multi-academy trusts and the ever increasing legislative burden of safeguarding and governance. Based on the author’s extensive experience in this area, this text provides a practical approach to advising on employment issues for Schools and academies. Aimed at all those advising clients in this sector, the text focuses on key issues unique to the sector; including: Who is the Employer? An examination of the different types of educational institutions and the intricacies unique to each. Disciplinary and misconduct issues – including safeguarding issues and the role of the barring authorities. Performance management including sickness absence; performance related pay and the statutory appraisal framework. TUPE in the Education Sector. Trade Union relations. Pensions – an examination of key areas practitioners should be aware of in dealing with the Local Government Pension Scheme and Teachers’ Pension Scheme, with particular reference to restructuring. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jonathan Holden a Partner, Head of Employment and Head of Education for Forbes Solicitors. He has specialised in Employment Law throughout his career. Jonathan has extensive experience in advising public sector institutions; and is a nationally recognised expert in advising on employment law issues within the education sector. He is an experienced Tribunal advocate, and regularly appears in Employment Tribunals throughout the country. He is experienced in dealing with pension loss issues, and appeared in one of the leading cases in this area in the Employment Appeals Tribunal. Jonathan is one of few experts nationally on LGPS and Teacher’s Pension issues; and he is currently dealing with a Court of Appeal case dealing with gross misconduct in the Education sector. He commonly deals with complicated discrimination and whistle-blowing cases. In addition, he is experienced in dealing with both the non-contentious and contentious implications of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations and advises clients on these issues both internally, and at Tribunal if necessary. In addition, Jonathan presents seminars to clients on all aspects of Employment Law and provides bespoke in-house training to meet client demand. He also regularly comments on Employment issues to local media and radio as well writing for and on the education sector; and has recently been retained by a national training provider to train lawyers on employment law issues within the education sector.