Members who work in West Sussex on term-time only (TTO) contracts will be aware that the branch has been trying to broker agreement with WSCC for some time now on the matter of term-time only pay. Previous news articles have explained further about the Brazel employment tribunal which resulted in a need for employers to correct pay going forwards, offer backpay, and offer compensation for lost pension contributions to staff due to the under-calculation of annual leave.
Despite initial progress made earlier in the year with the council, this has not gone as fast as we would like. We are still in negotiations but have not reached agreement. The employer has cited the demands on it of the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst we do understand this, we also need to protect members’ positions.
If you are leaving this term
If you are leaving your school this term, for any reason, the branch would like to hear from you. Please contact our Chichester office directly and leave us your name, contact email and telephone, and the name of the school you work at. We would like to hear from any member leaving school this Summer regardless of whether the school is:
- Maintained
- Voluntary-aided
- Voluntary-controlled
- Foundation School
- An Academy
We would also like to hear from any other members leaving WSCC or Capita who work on term-time only contracts.
To stress, it is only TTO staff that are leaving that we need to hear from. This is to ensure members do not lose their right to submit an Employment Tribunal case against WSCC concerning any underpayment they may have suffered. In due course we will send members a UNISON case form for them to complete and return. Members have three months less a day from leaving employment to submit an ET1 (employment tribunal paperwork) otherwise rights are lost.
If you are still in employment at your school and returning to work after the Summer break, rest assured that we are still working hard and pressing the council on a settlement which will have you in scope. We now expect this will be concluded in the Autumn.
Our primary concern currently is therefore to ensure that we capture the details of our members who are leaving school at the end of the Summer term.