Following their victory in the General Election in July, the new Labour Government pledged to bring about a plethora of legislative and economic changes, that will undoubtedly impact the education sector.
As has been widely covered in the media some changes will pose significant challenges for the independent school sector. Already struggling with the increase in the TPS employer contribution rate, the Labour Government was swift to confirm that private schools would lose their VAT exemption on private school fees, intended to take effect from January 2025. Schools will also suffer the loss of their eligibility to claim charitable rates relief, which is intended to take effect from April 2025. As a result, many independent schools are embarking on cost cutting measures including restructures and redundancies to ensure that they do all they can to reduce the pain they need to pass on to parents, by way of increased school fees whilst safeguarding their own financial health. More on this topic can be found in Ed Bouckley’s article here.
In the longer term, the new Government is also looking to overhaul the inspection regime to provide parents with more information on school performance, and to modernise the curriculum to prepare the next generation for the modern world, something it says the existing curriculum does not do. In all of its proposed changes affecting the education sector, the new Government has been noticeably silent on transgender rights. The previous Government had consulted on non-statutory guidance on gender questioning children in schools, and this remains hotly disputed within schools, across the parent community and society generally. Schools, and the wider education sector, desperately need clarity from the new Government on this issue, yet no reassurance has been given that any will be forthcoming. More information on this issue can be found in our article on this topic.
The new Government has promised an extensive shakeup of employment law and aims to implement its New Deal proposals within the first 100 days of their term. It is not realistic to expect much legislation to be introduced within this timeframe, instead, this timeframe will likely see the start of a formal consultation on a new Employment Rights Bill and also an Equality (Race and Disability) Bill.
As always, the devil will be in the detail. However, it is clear that significant change is coming, and we have set out below a summary of the anticipated employment law changes which will be of most relevance to the education sector.
- Day one rights: making parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal available from day one of employment for all workers. It has been indicated that the new legislation will “continue to ensure employers can operate probationary periods to assess new hires”, and it had been more recently suggested that such exempt probationary periods may be capped at six months.
- Flexible working: making the right to flexible working the default from day one for all workers, except where this is not reasonably feasible. This is likely to put more onus on education institutions to consider flexible working requests, including the right to work from home, which are not always easy to accommodate in the teaching environment.
- Trade union reforms: new rights for trade unions and reform to existing legislation in relation to trade union recognition favourable to trade unions. This includes increasing the rights of union officials to access workplaces to recruit and organise members, which might lead to unions having more presence across the education sector.
- Fire and rehire: strengthening the existing Code of Practice on ‘fire and rehire’. This Code, introduced under the previous Government, came into effect on 18 July. How the Code will be strengthened has not been made clear, but it is likely that the Government will extend the need to consult with employees before changing contractual terms, and it may impact the options available to educational institutions in the absence of agreement to change terms including hours and patterns of work and changes to pension provision.
- Zero-hours contracts: banning what the Government describes as “exploitative” zero-hours contracts and providing workers with a right to a contract that reflects hours they regularly work.
- Pay gap reporting: extending equal pay to cover race and disability and introducing mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting, which will be more complex than the existing gender pay gap reporting obligations.
The new Bills will need to go through the usual legislative process for approval and it may still be a few months before the significant changes proposed are set out in details and take effect. However, employers in the education sector should expect a flow of changes over the course of the next few years which will impact the way people work, the contractual terms upon which they are employed and the ability of the employer to change them.
Author : Charlotte Sloan, Legal Director
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The content of this article is for general information only. It is not, and should not be taken as, legal advice. If you require any further information in relation to this article please contact the author in the first instance. Law covered as at October 2024.