09/03/2023
Attention all academy teachers. Have you reviewed your pay progression history lately? Has your progress through the pay scales stalled? If so, you may be owed thousands of pounds back-pay if it transpires that your employer has unilaterally changed the terms of your employment contract by failing to review your salary on an annual basis.
The School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) places a school or Trust under a statutory obligation to provide a pay policy which should be reviewed every year. Academies are not bound to adopt the provisions of the STPCD and are free to set their own pay and conditions for teachers. However, this discretion is subject to limitations, particularly with regard to teachers whose employment was transferred to an academy under the TUPE process.
For many in this situation, a new employment contract will not have been provided and there will be nothing to confirm that the STPCD no longer applies: in other words, the STPCD will continue to apply post-conversion.
The relevant provisions of the STPCD can be summarised as follows:
a) the relevant body (the trust) must adopt a policy that sets out the basis upon which it determines teachers’ pay and the date by which it will determine teachers’ annual pay reviews (para 2.1(a));
b) the determination of the remuneration of a teacher must be made annually with effect from 1 September where a teacher becomes entitled to be paid on the upper pay range pursuant to paragraph 14 (para 3.1(a) and (c));
c) when determining the remuneration of a teacher, the relevant body must have regard to its pay policy…(para 3.2);
d) when the relevant body has determined that remuneration it must, at the earliest opportunity and in any event not later than one month after the determination, ensure that the teacher is notified in writing of the determination (para 3.4);
e) the relevant body must consider annually whether or not to increase the salary of teachers who have completed a year of employment since the previous annual pay determination and, if so, to what salary within the relevant pay ranges set out in paragraphs 13,14,16 and 17 (para 19.1);
f) the relevant body must decide how pay progression will be determined subject to the following:
i) the decision whether or not to award pay progression must be related to the teacher’s performance (para 19.2(a));
ii) a recommendation on pay must be made in writing as part of the teacher’s appraisal report, and in making its decision the relevant body must have regard to this recommendation (para 19.2 (b));
iii) pay decisions must be clearly attributable to the performance of the teacher in question (para 19.2e);
iv) continued good performance as defined by the individual school’s pay policy should give a teacher an expectation of progression to the top of their prospective pay range (para 19.2(f));
v) the relevant body must set out clearly in the school’s pay policy how pay progression will be determined in accordance with paragraph 19.2.
If your school is unable to provide you with a pay policy, it may well be the case that the above cited provisions of the STPCD have been completely ignored in relation to your pay progression. The same conclusion may well be drawn if you are, or have been, informed by your employer that the onus is on you to instigate your pay progression by way of an application. In the event that that no annual reviews took place, no notifications were issued and no pay recommendations were considered it can be argued that the employer has unilaterally changed the contract of employment.
If you feel that the circumstances described above apply to you, please contact me for further free legal advice.
