Good afternoon,
We hope you all had a lovely summer break.
Below is an overview of the changes which come into force from September 2024.
Keeping children safe in education 2024
The September 2024 version of the keeping children safe in education guidance is now in force, replacing previous versions. This was initially published for information in May.
Link – Keeping children safe in education – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Teachers pay award
School teachers and leaders will receive a fully funded 5.5% pay award, reflecting the vital contribution they make to children’s life chances.
The decision means the recommendations of the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) have been accepted in full.
Schools will receive almost £1.2 billion in additional funding to cover their costs, fully funding the pay award for teachers and support staff in financial year 2024 to 2025 at a national level.
Source – Government confirms above inflation pay award for teachers – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Risk Protection Arrangement
The RPA have increased their annual costs. These are now:
Academies
The annual costs are:
- £25 per pupil
- £25 per place for special and alternative provision academies, special schools and pupil referral units
This covers the school for the current academic year, 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025.
Local authority maintained schools
The annual costs are:
- £25 per pupil
- £25 per place for special and alternative provision academies, special schools and pupil referral units
This covers the school for the current financial year, 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.
Source – Join the risk protection arrangement (RPA) for schools – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Data Protection: privacy notice model documents
Updated suggested privacy notices for schools and local authorities to issue to staff, parents and pupils about the collection of data.
Link – Data protection: privacy notice model documents – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Ofsted
Schools in England will no longer receive Ofsted single headline grades, also known as single word judgements, from 2nd September 2024.
Another key change will see Ofsted give leaders notice of all routine, graded and ungraded, inspections on a Monday, in new a approach set to be piloted over Autumn term.
So, heads will know by Monday afternoon if an inspection is planned for that week.
Inspectors will then visit schools on a Tuesday and Wednesday and write reports on Thursdays.
On Fridays, Ofsted bosses will “lead a rigorous consistency review of inspection finding” and activities such as lead inspector training will also take place.
Source – https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2024/09/02/removal-ofsted-single-word-judgements-schools/
New duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment
The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 will come into force on 26th October 2024. The Act amends the Equality Act 2010 to:
- Introduce a duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees.
- Give employment tribunals the power to uplift sexual harassment compensation by up to 25% where an employer is found to have breached the new duty to prevent sexual harassment.
The following are some suggested reasonable steps an employer could take depending on its size and resources:
- Having a clear and regularly updated policy specifically dealing with sexual harassment.
- Providing mandatory training for all staff on what amounts to sexual harassment, the standards of behaviour expected in the workplace and how to raise a complaint, and additional training for managers on how to handle a sexual harassment complaint.
- Having a zero-tolerance workplace culture in relation to sexual harassment, which is openly supported by senior management.
- Encouraging the reporting of sexual harassment by providing different methods of doing so, a clear process to make and investigate complaints and providing appropriate support to those who raise complaints.
- Conducting regular staff surveys to ascertain the extent of any problem or potential risk of sexual harassment, both internally and in relation to third-parties employees come into contact with.
- Monitoring the progress of all sexual harassment complaints to ensure that they are properly investigated and resolved, repeat offenders are dealt with appropriately, identify particular risk areas and effective measures are put in place to minimise those risks.
- Monitoring the progress of employees who make complaints or are witnesses to sexual harassment to ensure that no victimisation takes place.
- Having workplace champions to provide support and advice to those who experience or witness sexual harassment.
