Instruments drawn to the special attention of the House
School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions (England) Order 2019
Date laid: 20 September 2019
Parliamentary procedure: negative
This Order has been laid by the Department for Education (DfE) and serves to introduce new pay and allowance ranges in the national pay framework for school teachers in maintained schools in England. The Explanatory Memorandum (EM) accompanying the Order notes that the Secretary of State accepted the School Teachers’ Review Body’s (STRB’s) recommendation in full for a 2.75% uplift to the minima and maxima of all pay ranges and allowances. DfE notes that as this pay award is more than the Department assessed as affordable in its evidence to the STRB, it has invested a further £105 million into the existing Teachers’ Pay Grant this financial year to bridge the gap.
The Department ran an eight-week consultation from 22 July to 13 September 2019 on the STRB’s 29th report and the draft “School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document 2019 and Guidance on School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions”. The EM notes that there were criticisms of the time taken to publish the STRB report and that the consultation ran largely over the school holiday period. DfE states that: “The government noted consultees’ comments concerning the timing of the announcement and publication of the STRB report … this was a result of the need to consider individual departmental pay awards within the context of the wider public sector pay policy. DfE officials are continuing to work with HMT to ensure the timetable next year allows for earlier publication of the response”.
The Order is drawn to the special attention of the House on the ground that it gives rise to issues of public policy likely to be of interest to the House.
Background
1.The Department for Education (DfE) has laid this Order alongside an Explanatory Memorandum (EM). DfE notes that this Order is made annually and serves to introduce new pay and allowance ranges in the national pay framework for school teachers in maintained schools in England.
2.The Order makes provision for the remuneration and conditions of employment of school teachers to be determined by reference to the provisions set out in section 2 of the “School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document 2019 and Guidance on School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions” (“the Document”).1 The Document applies to teachers employed in local authority maintained schools in England. Previous Documents have applied to teachers in England and Wales. The EM notes, however, that “… from 30th September 2018, the Welsh Ministers, rather than the Secretary of State, have had devolved competence to make provision for teachers in Wales”.2 Paragraph 7.2 of the EM notes that the Welsh Ministers will be making their own separate 2019 Order shortly which will cover teachers in Wales.
3.At paragraph 7.6 of the EM the Department notes that, historically, the Government have always laid the pay order by 10 August (with the exception of 2018) to enable the pay award and any other changes to the Document to come into effect from 1st September (the date on which, historically, teachers’ pay awards have always come into effect). DfE goes on to state that:
“However, like last year, as it was necessary to consider the teachers’ pay award in the context of the wider public sector pay process and awards and provide a meaningful (8 week) consultation with schools and consultees, the pay order will come into force on 11th October 2019 and its provisions will have effect retrospectively from 1st September 2019. These are the same principles that were in place for the 2018 pay award.”3
School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document 2019 and Guidance on School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions (“the Document”)
4.The EM notes that section 1 of the Document summarises the changes to pay and conditions and associated guidance since the 2018 Order and other relevant information about the Document. Section 2 of the Document is laid out in seven parts and two annexes. Parts 2 to 6 set out how pay and allowances for the various categories of teacher are to be determined. Part 7 sets out conditions of employment for the various categories of teacher that will have effect as terms of their contracts of employment. The Annexes to section 2 of the Document set out the performance standards for teachers and interpretation matters. Section 3 of the Document is statutory guidance to accompany the provisions in section 2 and replaces the previous section 3.
School Teachers’ Review Body’s (STRB’s) 29th Report4
5.The Department notes at paragraph 7.4 of the EM that on 21 November 2018 the Secretary of State asked the STRB to consider application of the 2019 pay award for teachers, within the context of the pay award focusing on the Government’s flexible approach to public sector pay and teacher recruitment and retention challenges. DfE states that the STRB were asked to consider:
“… how the pay award can best utilise the flexibility within the Government’s pay policy to address areas of skill shortage, while remaining within the bounds of affordability across the school system as a whole. In particular, you will want to consider how the pay award can best encourage high quality entrants to join the profession and support their progression within the workforce.”5
6.Section 121 of the Education Act 2002 requires the STRB to consult various representative bodies in addition to the Secretary of State before reporting on a matter referred to them. The EM notes at paragraph 7.5 that on 22 July 2019, following submission of evidence from the Secretary of State and the representative bodies, the Government laid before Parliament the STRB’s 29th Report, and its proposed response to that report.6 The STRB recommended a 2.75% uplift to the minima and maxima of all pay ranges and allowances in the national pay framework.
7.DfE notes at paragraph 7.8 of the EM that the Government’s view was that it was imperative to increase the competitiveness of the pay framework in the wider graduate and labour market and support schools to help attract and retain good teachers and leaders. The Secretary of State therefore accepted the STRB’s recommendation in full for a 2.75% uplift to the minima and maxima of all pay ranges and allowances. The Department notes that the flexible performance-based pay system will provide schools with the option to give teachers and leaders a higher pay rise where appropriate to their local context and budget. We asked the Department for background information about the flexible performance-based pay system (see Appendix 1 for all questions and responses) and were told:
“Essentially, while the Department determines the minima and maxima of the teacher and headteacher pay ranges and the annual pay uplift to those ranges, (via recommendations from the STRB), how individual schools choose to reward their teachers within those ranges is entirely up to them. All pay progression is now linked directly to performance and, as long as schools pay within the minima and maxima of the pay ranges, they are free to make progression of whatever amount suits them and which they can afford.”7
8.Paragraph 7.9 of the EM notes that because this pay award is more than the Department assessed as affordable in its evidence to the STRB, it has invested a further £105 million into the existing Teachers’ Pay Grant this financial year. In answer to our questions about the additional funding (see Appendix 1), the Department told us that: “We are funding the difference between the 2.75% pay award and the 2% we have assessed schools can, on average, afford at a national level.”
9.The STRB’s 29th Report notes that the Department could not meet the STRB’s original deadline for initial written representations and evidence. The 29th Report states that the STRB then extended the deadline for all consultees, which “ … had an impact on the timescale for the rest of the pay round and meant that our report was submitted to the Government on a later date than we had originally planned”.8 We asked the Department why it had been unable to meet the STRB’s original deadline. The DfE reply notes that this related to securing cross-government clearance on their evidence (see Appendix 1 for full questions and responses). The Department also told us that it had received the STRB’s 29th Report on 23 May 2019.
Formal consultation
10.The EM states that on 22 July 2019, the Secretary of State invited consultees who contributed to the STRB process to comment on the STRB’s 29th Report and the revised draft Document during an eight-week statutory consultation process (which ran from 22 July to 13 September 2019).
11.Section 10 of the EM provides detailed information about the consultation process and responses received.
12.The EM notes that the Association of School and College Leaders, the National Association of Head Teachers, NEU, and Voice produced a joint response, as well as providing individual responses. Amongst other points raised, DfE notes that: “ … the unions were also critical of the time taken to publish the STRB report and that the subsequent consultation ran largely over the school holiday period.” Paragraph 10.10 of the EM also notes (amongst other points) that the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Woman Teachers, who were not part of the joint union response, were critical of the delay in publishing the STRB report and the consultation over the school holiday period.
13.We asked the Department why it had run the consultation over the school holiday period. DfE’s response stated that:
“Given HMT’s desire to ensure that the teachers pay award settlement was considered within the context of the whole public sector pay settlement process (and individual public sector review body reports to different timetables), the resultant cross-government discussions meant that we only received final clearance to announce the teachers’ pay award on 22nd July. Historically teachers pay awards normally come into effect on 1st September and we could, as in previous years, have run a very short consultation in order to ensure we met that deadline, particularly as we were accepting all of the pay recommendations in full. However, having spoken to a number of key stakeholders about the forthcoming consultation process, who told us they would prefer a longer consultation period, even if that meant missing the 1st September implementation date, we decided therefore to have an 8-week consultation and give consultees the maximum amount of time to discuss and prepare responses. Inevitably this meant running the consultation over the summer holiday but also into the new school term period as well.”9
Conclusion
14.We remind the House that in 2018 we drew the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Order 2018 (SI 2018/998) to its attention, commenting that we had no doubt that the scheduling of the formal consultation to coincide with school summer holidays would have presented the interested parties with significant difficulties in formulating and presenting their views.10 In 2017 we drew the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Order 2017 (SI 2017/811) to the attention of the House commenting on the length of the consultation period and the timing thereof.11 The Committee notes that the Department carried out a longer consultation period than it did in 2018 and 2017; however, we also note the criticisms voiced by the unions about the timing of this consultation. The Committee is disappointed that the 2019 consultation was largely run over the school holiday period.
15.The Order is drawn to the special attention of the House on the ground that it gives rise to issues of public policy likely to be of interest to the House.
1 Department for Education, School teachers’ pay and conditions document 2019 and guidance on school teachers’ pay and conditions (September 2019): https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/832634/School_teachers_pay_and_conditions_2019.pdf [accessed 23 September 2019].
2 EM, para 2.2.
3 EM, paragraph 7.6.
4 School Teachers’ Review Body, School Teachers’ Review Body 29th Report - 2019 (July 2019): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-teachers-review-body-29th-report-2019 [accessed 23 September 2019].
5 EM, paragraph 7.4.
7 Response provided by DfE on 8 October 2019.
8 STRB’s 29th Report, page 4, para 1.16.
9 Response provided by DfE on 4 October 2019.
10 41st Report, Session 2017–19 (HL Paper 190).
11 5th Report, Session 2017–19 (HL Paper 20).