I have been busy talking to local authorities and Multi Academy Trusts and below is a quick round up of my areas. One of the themes emerging in the South East is potential transfer of undertakings (TUPE) as well as the more regular re-organisations and restructures.     

Local Authorities

Barking and Dagenham are consulting on proposals to transfer their School Improvement (SI) staff over to a ‘not for profit’ organisation via TUPE. Consultation with Prospect has been challenged as we don’t hold recognition but I have reminded them of the LGA advice on the need to consult with Soulbury unions and I’m hopeful this may encourage dialogue.

Brook Learning Trust are an academy consisting of three schools in the Kent area.  I have obtained formal recognition following a recent meeting and will be looking to build membership.

Croydon LA were considering another restructure of their remaining School Improvement (SI) service and possibly TUPE transferring these remaining staff over to Octavo, the trading service independently run from the LA who already delivers some SI services in the borough. However due to some concerns raised by the staff that the service was not ‘fit for purpose’ these proposals have been suspending since December. We are awaiting further developments.

Ealing LA have recently invited staff to a meeting to discuss a further restructure. I have been invited to been involved with discussion.

Hampshire has proposed several changes to their services but currently none where Prospect members are affected. I arranged a members meeting earlier in the New Year and am assured that there are no concerns amongst our members in this area.

Hertfordshire. I met senior HR colleagues at the end of the year to agree a new recognition agreement

Kent continue their plans to move most of their Education and Children Services into a separate company wholly owned by KCC. All affected staff are to be TUPE’d over and their LGPS membership has been guaranteed.

Members have become increasingly concerned as details of this transfer have become clearer. The new Director of Children Services Matt Dunkley met with the joint union representatives last month but could not give us firm reassurance on a number of issues. It is not clear whether the new employer will obtain recognition under the Modification Order and therefore whether transferring staff can maintain their continuous service. There are also moves to only allow recognition of the main negotiating unions despite the fact that most of the staff transferring are not members of these unions and the new company are wholly owned by the LA and should continue to recognise the Soulbury unions. The latest development has been a decision made by management to delay the implementation of this proposal until September to allow for further consultation.

Personal Cases

I have several personal cases involving harassment and bullying, either towards my members or, more worryingly, unsubstantiated claims that my members are bullying colleagues whilst in the process of line managing staff. These cases can be time consuming, and rarely result in a satisfactory outcome for either party. Quite often both parties are left with feelings of betrayal and mistrust. I always advise in the first instance to try and resolve these situations informally and by mediation if possible but each case is dealt with on its merits.

I also am currently supporting a member who has been off on long term sickness due to the failure of their employer, a London local authority, failing to put into place all the support measures recommended by Access to Work. This has resulted in a deterioration of the member’s physical condition and also affected their mental health and wellbeing. The LA now seem to accept that the member cannot hope to return to work until all equipment is supplied and reasonable adjustments have been made to working hours. However they don’t yet accept that their actions, or lack of them, have led to the deterioration of the member’s condition. This is an on-going case which hopefully can be resolved to the satisfaction of all parties by open and honest dialogue.

If you are affected by restructures or other issues in your workplace, or if you feel that you need individual support for any work-related issue, please contact the ECS group office in Wakefield on [email protected]