Nottingham City concedes 5 Term Year is not a done deal (Updated 2/12/11)
Nottingham City Council Officials have been forced to concede that the 5 Term Year dates are ‘Indicative’ and that consultations with the Trade Unions will begin in January.
On 2/12/11 we received the following email from Ian Curryer -
“I wish to clarify the Council's position with regard to consultation on school holiday
patterns…… I believe that confusion had arisen due to the Council's website indicating
that the 13/14 holiday patterns were confirmed. These should have been posted as
'proposed' and I can confirm that the website has been changed accordingly.
Discussions
have commenced with Cllr Mellen about the Council's approach to consultation on this
matter which we believe will commence in early January. We will of course keep Trade
Unions informed as we firm up our plans.”
However, the final outcome is far from settled. This concession has been gained through the influence of the trade unions but we are determined to exert as much pressure as possible on the City until the plans for a 5 term year are withdrawn. Nottingham NUT has sought and been granted permission to conduct a ballot for industrial action from the national headquarters of the NUT. This will be run by the Electoral Reform Society. Further information about the Ballot can be found here
We also still need your help and urge you to sign the Joint Union’s petition either
on-
Further Background Information:
Teachers contracts only allow a teacher to to move from one post to another on 3 dates each year which coincide with the current 3 term structure. We raised this with the City Council and their own legal advice, included in the report presented to the City’s Executive Board, states:
“There are potentially complex employment law implications arising from the proposals which will need to be considered in detail, derived from the Conditions of Service for Schoolteachers in England and Wales.........consultation will need to be carried out with the affected parties and trade unions......if terms and conditions cannot be amended by agreement with the trade unions, the City Council will need to consider other options.”
As the negotiations on this contract are conducted at a national level and Nottingham is the only local authority that has decided to move to a 5 term year it seems unlikely that the contract will be easily changed. The unions are highly unlikely to agree at a national or local level.
The Report presented to the Council’s Executive Board examined the ‘Risk Management Issues’ of the change in holidays. This was restricted entirely to risks to school property through vandalism etc. Risks to the health of employees, through increased stress etc., was NOT included. We therefore wrote to the City asking for them to provide a Stress Risk Assessment, as required under Health and Safety Legislation. We have since received a very inadequate assessment ignoring many of the potential risks. For example, longer terms without a break may lead to increased levels of employee stress and consequential illness and absence towards the end of those terms. We sent a detailed response to the City on 31st October requesting a revised risk assessment together with the evidence collected to inform the assessment. In negotiations with the Authority on 1/12/11, it was agreed that a revised stress risk assessment would be provided.
In order to collect our own evidence concerning the potential impact of the 5 term year, we have initiated an online survey which we would like as many members as possible to complete. So far, the responses are overwhelmingly opposed to the changes with many examples of the real hardship that may result from the changes for families where children/partners attend/work at schools outside the City. If you have not already completed the survey you can do so here
We will provide further updates to this page as and when we have more news.