Schools HR & Employment Law

How we can help

Staff are key assets for schools and we know that schools do not want their advisors to sit on the fence. Our clients appreciate the robust and commercial approach we take when advising on HR and employment law issues, and this is what sets us apart from others. We therefore have a dedicated HR helpdesk as part of our School Support Service which gives you direct access to specialist employment lawyers who can provide advice on a range of HR and employment law issues which arise in a school context.

Our Schools HR team are experts in the regulatory framework that applies to schools and have extensive experience advising on, for example, the STPCD, the restrictions in the Academy Trust Handbook and in particular its application to settlement agreements, and the requirements of the ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ statutory guidance relating to safer recruitment and other sources of regulation.

The employment and HR aspect of the service is designed to dovetail with any external HR support your school or trust may have and/or to provide back-up to your in-house HR team.

We represent clients in defending employment tribunal proceedings including claims involving allegations of discrimination because of race, sex, disability, pregnancy and maternity and all other protected grounds; whistleblowing; unfair dismissal and holiday pay. Our team can act on claims which are insurance-backed or covered by the RPA, as well matters that are privately funded.

We can provide bespoke training for clients on a variety of HR / employment law issues specific to the education sector. As part of our service we also deliver webinars and seminars to our School Support Service clients. Recordings of some of our recent webinars are available here.

We regularly advise individual schools, academy trusts and dioceses in relation to:

• Strategic HR and employment law advice
• Recruitment and retention
• Contracts of employment
• STPCD, Burgundy Book and Green Book
• Workplace policies and procedures
• Grievances
• Disciplinary procedures
• Sickness absence management and sick pay
• TUPE
• Restructuring and redundancy
• Trade union disputes and collective bargaining
• Settlement agreements and early resolution of disputes
• Dismissals
• Employment tribunal claims
• Crisis management and reputational risk
• Workplace operations and strategy post Covid-19.

Case Studies

Our team are here to support you with all schools HR and employment law legal queries, no matter how big or small. Click on the links below to read more about our experience supporting schools.

• Settlement Agreement Case Study: Academy Trust Handbook
• Settlement Agreement Case Study: Long term sickness absence
• Contracts, policies and procedures Case Study
• Employment Tribunal Case Study: religious discrimination and less favourable treatment of part time worker
• Employment Tribunal Case Study: strike out and costs order

For more information or to discuss your needs and how we can support you, please contact our Schools HR team on 0345 026 8690 or schoolshr@wslaw.co.uk