News

Covid-19 – Latest Guidance for Schools – 11.00am 4 January 2021

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 … Read more

Christmas Wishes

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

Employment Law and HR update – 11th December 2020

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 … Read more

Does a school have to give a good reference for an employee?

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 … Read more

Covid-19 – Latest Guidance – 10.00am 27 November 2020

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 … Read more

Covid-19 – Latest Guidance – 6.00pm 23 November 2020

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. … Read more

Pregnant Workers in Schools – Guidance from RCOG

Summary We are seeing increasing requests in relation to pregnant employees over 28 weeks (i.e. in their third trimester) to be working from home. The basis for these requests was because the Guidance for full opening: schools makes specific reference to Occupational Health guidance published by the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (RCOG).  Part … Read more

Latest Guidance (employment and business) 6 November 2020

On 5th November 2020 the Policy Paper relating to the Extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was published. Latest Guidance (health) A reminder of the definitions:- Clinically extremely vulnerable You may be at high risk from coronavirus if you: have had an organ transplant are having chemotherapy or antibody treatment for cancer, including immunotherapy … Read more

Covid-19 – Latest guidance on shielding and protecting people who are clinically extremely vulnerable from COVID-19 – 1.30pm 4th November 2020

The government have released guidance for individuals who have been identified as clinically extremely vulnerable. Any individual in this group will have previously received a letter from the NHS or their GP. The latest guidance applies to clinically extremely vulnerable individuals only. Others living in a household with someone who is clinically extremely vulnerable are … Read more