Summary On 12th January The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists updated their Q&A guidance for pregnant women. No change to the current guidance in that pregnant employees remain in the ‘clinically vulnerable’ category.  Work from home if possible but if not possible an employee can come to work depending on the individual risk assessment. It appears possible for schools to use the Flexible Furlough Scheme in certain circumstances – more details below. Pregnant Employees Government Guidance The Restricting attendance during the national lockdown: schools states:- Staff who are pregnant (change of emphasis – new wording in italics) As per national restrictions, staff should work at home where possible. If home working is not possible, pregnant staff and their employers should follow the advice in the Coronavirus (COVID-19): advice for – Read More…

Summary On 7th January 2021 the Government has published new guidance for schools – Restricting attendance during the national lockdown: schools Restricting attendance during the national lockdown: schools runs to 61 pages but follows the same format as  Guidance for full opening: schools. Although the  Guidance for full opening: schools has not yet been updated it is likely to be replaced with this new guidance. There is very little change to the School Workforce section – only a change of emphasis in the first section to encourage working from home:- Under the national lockdown, the expectation is that everybody should work from home where possible. School leaders are best placed to determine the workforce that is required in school, taking into account the updated guidance for those staff who are – Read More…

Summary In an announcement at 8pm tonight the PM confirmed a third national lockdown with immediate effect. National lockdown: Stay at Home – guidance was first published at 8.01pm and the full guidance runs to 22 pages. Colleges, primary and secondary schools will remain open only for vulnerable children and the children of critical workers. All other children will learn remotely until February half term. Early Years settings remain open. GCSE and A Level exams are cancelled.  The guidance states at page 13 ‘In the circumstances, we do not think it is possible for all exams in the summer to go ahead as planned. We will accordingly be working with Ofqual to consult rapidly to put in place alternative arrangements that will allow students to progress fairly.’ Higher Education provision – Read More…

Further development Following our update at 11am today we have discovered that the latest guidance from NASUWT is in stark contrast to the advice from NEU. The full guidance is here – Covid-19 Update Spring Term A PDF version of the advice is here – NASUWT MEMBER UPDATE – JANUARY 2021 Key Points The NASUWT guidance is in the form of FAQ’s:- Some staff colleagues at my school have written to the headteacher to say that they will not be coming into the workplace on the advice of their unions. Is the NASUWT supporting this advice? A direction to employees to attend work will be a reasonable management instruction and failure to comply will be a breach of contract by the employees involved with potential for the employer to take – Read More…

Summary Happy New Year! On 3 January the PM told Andrew Marr that was “no doubt in my mind that schools are safe” and that the risk to children was “very, very low” and the benefit of education was “so huge”, but did not rule out further closures. The NEU have advised their members not to go to work based on health and safety concerns:- ‘The NEU’s advice to members is that it is, in our view, unsafe for you to attend the workplace at present.  We have written to all employers and all head teachers and principals giving this same advice and asking them to make preparations for a move to remote learning instead.’ ‘This advice applies to all primary and secondary schools, special schools and SEND settings, colleges – Read More…

Good afternoon, All our best wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to catching up with you in the New Year. From all of us at, Cook Lawyers

New self-isolation requirements announced today New filtering rules for DBS certificates Keeping children safe in education: proposed revisions 2021 1. Covid-19 new announcement today – Self-isolation cut to 10 days from Monday 14th December Self-isolation for contacts of people with confirmed coronavirus will be shortened from 14 to 10 days across the UK from Monday 15th December. The change will also apply to people instructed to quarantine after returning from countries which are not on the travel corridor list. Anyone who has been self-isolating for 10 days or more will be able to end their quarantine on Monday. The change has already been announced in Wales, but this new announcement will apply to all four nations. A statement from the four UK chief medical officers (CMOs) said: “After reviewing the – Read More…

There is a common misconception that a current or former employee is entitled to a ‘good’ reference or, more accurately, that an employer cannot make any negative comments about an employee.  This is simply wrong. In the education sector a useful starting point is the School Staffing (England) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/2680) which states that where a candidate applies for employment at an academy or maintained school in England then the governors of the previous school must, if asked, advise in writing whether the candidate has been the subject of capability proceedings within the last two years and, if so, give written details of how the concerns arose, for how long they lasted and the outcome of any proceedings. In addition, the DfE non-statutory guidance on ‘Staffing and employment advice – Read More…

Summary The PM gave a statement at the coronavirus press conference on 26 November 2020.  The full statement is here. In addition, the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, made a statement to the House of Commons and announced which regions would be in each tier. The full guidance on the different tiers is here – Local restriction tiers: what you need to know The criteria used to determine which tier a region is placed in are as follows:- case detection rates in all age groups case detection rates in the over 60s the rate at which cases are rising or falling positivity rate (the number of positive cases detected as a percentage of tests taken) pressure on the NHS The regulations require the government to review the allocations every 14 days, – Read More…

Summary The PM made a statement in the House of Commons today on the Covid-19 Winter Plan.  The full statement is here. By the Spring, the advances in treatment, in testing and vaccines should ‘reduce the need for the restrictions we have endured in 2020.’ A new regional tiered approach was announced.  Full details below. On Thursday 26 November, the government will announce which areas are in which tier. The new rules will come into effect from the beginning of Wednesday 2 December. The government will announce the arrangements that will be in place over the Christmas period shortly. The full guidance is here – Local restriction tiers: what you need to know All tiers Across all tiers, everyone: must wear a face covering in most indoor public settings, unless they have – Read More…