Teachers made redundant from new academy, what a surprise!

BusyGirl

Hi, I'm hoping someone out there can help with a few of my questions. My husband's school became an academy last year after a year long battle with staff, parents and pupils and last week my husband, 10 other teachers, learning mentors and some support staff where told that the school would be re-structured in September and their posts would be redundant, nice! The annoying thing is we've heard that the new Head is bringing in other cheaper staff in September!
Anyway my husband has been there 30 years and has been told that the redundancy payment would be statutory with no cap. So does that mean he will get 30 weeks instead of 20 and/or will he get more than the weekly max pay when it is worked out? We only found out on Wednesday and we're still in shock. Will he be redundant from the the day they break up on in July or at the end of August and if so, will he get paid in August? Also, should he be getting all of this in writing in the near future as it's all been verbal so far?
The human resources dept had a meeting with all of the staff after school, but it wasn't really clear as they were just trying to calm the staff who where all in shock! The unions were in the next day and they want to fight the redundancies. However my husband has said he doesn't want to stay as he's devasted at the way the school has treated him. I'd like to add that he is a fantastic teacher loved by the kids, parents and grandparents who he has taught over the years, I'm not just saying that either, but he is now an expensive member of staff with a TLR! He turned 55 this year and wants to take the redundancy payment and apply for his teacher's pension.
What happens next? Does he contact the academy's human resource dept to tell them he won't fight the redundancy or should he contact the local/regional union rep for advice. Also does 'no cap' on the statutory redundancy payment mean that and will he get 30 weeks of his weekly pay, rather than the max amount allowed?
Sorry for the ramble but this is all new to us and we've been incredibly lucky up to now, thankfully I still have a job so we won't be just living off his pension.
Thanks for listening.

pleasedelete

As long as he has not changed his job since the academy transfer he will have TUPE protection.

He should see a union. You need to ask the academy for a figure. The cap would usually be 20 years and £450 a week but no cap could mean either or both waived.

It is perfectly ok to make some teachers redundant whilst employing others. They could be making pe teachers redundant but employing maths teachers. It may be an issue if they were employing othe identical staff- for example making MPS maths teachers redundant and then employing other MPS maths teachers. But you could make MPS math teachers redundant and employ maths teachers with TLR or visa versa.

CKhalvashi

pleasedelete wrote: »

As long as he has not changed his job since the academy transfer he will have TUPE protection.

He should see a union. You need to ask the academy for a figure. The cap would usually be 20 years and £450 a week but no cap could mean either or both waived.

It is perfectly ok to make some teachers redundant whilst employing others. They could be making pe teachers redundant but employing maths teachers. It may be an issue if they were employing othe identical staff- for example making MPS maths teachers redundant and then employing other MPS maths teachers. But you could make MPS math teachers redundant and employ maths teachers with TLR or visa versa.

It's possibly trying to out UPS/ET/AST's, whilst bringing in ITT/M1/M2, at a saving of anywhere upto £30k a year.

It doesn't surprise me at all, if I'm honest!

CK

Valli

CKhalvashi wrote: »

It's possibly trying to out UPS/ET/AST's, whilst bringing in ITT/M1/M2, at a saving of anywhere upto £30k a year.

It doesn't surprise me at all, if I'm honest!

CK

Given that academies do not even have to offer salaries commensurate with the teachers' pay scale at all it will be a cost cutting exercise, pure and simple.

It's also possible that some teachers could be offered new contracts, at, one presumes, a reduced rate to what they are on now.

OP I suggest your husband contacts his union and lets them do the nasty work; that's what he's been paying his dues for.

CKhalvashi

Valli wrote: »

Given that academies do not even have to offer salaries commensurate with the teachers' pay scale at all it will be a cost cutting exercise, pure and simple.

It's also possible that some teachers could be offered new contracts, at, one presumes, a reduced rate to what they are on now.

I forgot about that, as I've been out of teaching for a number of years now.

Spot on advice here!

lulu650

BusyGirl wrote: »

...The human resources dept had a meeting with all of the staff after school, but it wasn't really clear........ The unions were in the next day and they want to fight the redundancies. However my husband has said he doesn't want to stay as he's devasted at the way the school has treated him...... He turned 55 this year and wants to take the redundancy payment and apply for his teacher's pension.
What happens next?........ should he contact the local/regional union rep for advice. Also does 'no cap' on the statutory redundancy payment mean that and will he get 30 weeks of his weekly pay, rather than the max amount allowed? ....

Hi, you can see I've put the union in bold. Your husband needs to make contact with his branch secretary or regional official immediately. Presumably it was the branch secretary who came into the school? Your union will give you all the advice you need, including pension advice and how much work he can undertake in the future in order not to lose any of his reduced pension. Please take that all important pension advice as his pension will be reduced now and for ever more if he takes it early.

MrsExhausted

You may want to take pensions advice on early retirement v redundancy first. I know of a headteacher who's retiring this year because the changes from next year won't make it worth his while despite the reduction and he's 56. He says he was advised that for his particular situation, it was better to take an early retirement and then start work after a qualifying period if he wanted to.