Lunchtime Supervisor Tasks

alw1971

Hello,

My wife has been a Lunchtime Supervisor for over 4 years and likes the job. She has now been told that she must 'clean up' a young child of 3 who regularly soils herself. She has never been asked to do this before and has been told it's part of her job? My wife does not feel comfortable about doing this and is getting upset about being forced into this position. Just wondering if anyone has any experience of this and if training etc is required? 

Thankyou

tacpot12

This link will give you some advice: 

Continence issues and safeguarding | NSPCC Learning - you might need to navigate to the section entitled Intimate Care. 

Her employer can change to her job responsibilites, providing these are reasonable. It would be for a tribunal to decide if this change was a reasonable one or not. I'm inclined to think that they would not think that it was reasonable without some training, althohg that trainingmight focus more on record-keeping rather than the practicalities. 

You wife should have a read of this Citizens Advice webpage as well: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/rights-at-work/basic-rights-and-contracts/changes-to-employment-contracts-overview/

If you have home insurance, and have legal expenses cover as part of this, she could call the Insurer's legal Helpline for advice on employment law.

74jax

Is this 'clean up' actually cleaning and changing the child, or cleaning up the area (ie the canteen floor etc)?
If it is the child, full training will be given and policy details provided. 
Extended safeguarding will also be provided. 

If it is the floor, then guidance will be provided on how to do this safely and avoiding cross contamination. 

Is it only your wife who is there is in this time, in this role. Or are there others? If others are they all being trained? 

alw1971

It was cleaning the floor as well as the child intimately. 

oh_really

Who would provide this sort of care for the child away from the lunchtime aspect and why are they not providing the care at lunchtime?

Union?

74jax

Is it a child of 3 (nursery) or year 3 (school)? 

alw1971

A child of 3. My wife isn't happy about this because of safeguarding etc. There are others who work who are doing it atm but my wife has been told it's in her contract and she will have to do it. My wife is looking for her contract but she has never signed and returned it. 

oh_really

alw1971 said:

My wife is looking for her contract but she has never signed and returned it. 

It matters not, she turns up for work and receives a wage, that's enough to demonstrate.

Her employer will likely attempt to use a catch all clause, is she up for a fight? Once she starts taking this on it will be more difficult to drop the task.

You haven't clarified who does this task outwith lunchtime and why they are not doing what is after all "their job".

Union?

74jax

If she is worried about safeguarding, full training will be given and the safeguarding policy should be followed now, never mind when she does this role.  She should be aware of safeguarding as she is with children.

Not signing the contract doesn't mean anything. 

Savvy_Sue

And personally I'd never do such a job without being a union member, so what's their take on it?

If all the lunchtime supervisors are expected to do this, then they should work together on procedures to ensure safeguarding etc.

And surely at least 2 of them have to be involved because you can't deal with a mess on the floor at the same time as you deal with a mess on the child. 

alw1971

My wife only works about 6 hours a week. So she isn't in a union. 
I have just had a look at her contract which is very vague as I expected? It doesn't actually list her responsibilities or what the job entails. I guess her boss saying it's written in your contract comes under the vague wording without going into detail? Also being a part time employee what would her sickness entitlement be compared to a full time member of staff? 

Sorry u dint claim to be clued up in the wording in the hear contracts 😟