The NASUWT with the other school workforce trade unions have negotiated a trade union recognition agreement with ULT for consultation and collective bargaining purposes.

This provides the necessary structures for the NASUWT to meet with ULT at a national level and on a regular basis in the ULT Academies Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC). The JNC is where the trade unions meet with ULT to negotiate on pay, conditions of service issues and on policies and procedures for teachers and other ULT staff.

The NASUWT has agreed many HR policies and procedures with ULT Academies and the other recognised trade unions.

Copies of the documents are available on the right-hand side of the page and on the ULT website.

The policies and procedures have been agreed by the NASUWT on the condition that they apply to ULT staff that have accepted and signed the ULT contract.

Teachers' Pay in ULT Academies

The NASUWT seek to ensure that members in academy schools have, at least, the equivalent pay award to teachers in other maintained schools. Teachers working in ULT academies who transferred employment to ULT from a predecessor school but who have not signed a ULT contract should continue to receive the same pay increase and benefits as teachers in the maintained sector.

Pay and Performance Management/Appraisal

Throughout the negotiations, the NASUWT has worked constructively with the employer to seek to secure acceptable policies on pay and performance management/appraisal/PDR. United Learning has worked with the unions and has moved some way to address our concerns in the wording of both policies.

 

The NASUWT advised there were a number of aspects set out in the PM Policy that we would not sign up to including: that it was not in line with the annual limit of 3 hours / 3 observations; the status of learning walks as observations; the classroom observation protocol.

 

The NASUWT has not agreed the PM or Pay policies. The policies are not yet compliant with the NASUWT pay and performance management/appraisal requirements. They are under review.

ULT academies operate separate pay scales for teachers on ULT contracts. We have not agreed their Pay/PDR policies either.

Protection of your pay and conditions under TUPE

Staff who transferred when the school became an academy transferred under TUPE and therefore benefit from the protections of TUPE. One of those protections is that changes to the transferred contract of employment cannot be made. Regulation 4(4) TUPE sets that out - any purported variation to the contract will be void.

Therefore requiring staff that transferred under TUPE to sign new contracts is not permitted. The protection from TUPE does not apply only to certain terms and conditions. TUPE applies to the whole contract. The employer cannot pick and choose which bits of the contract are protected by TUPE - it is all protected by TUPE and so there should not be any move to introduce new contracts.

Employees therefore have the legal right to transfer to the new employer on their existing terms and conditions of employment and with all their existing employment rights and liabilities intact. Effectively, the new employer steps into the shoes of the old employer and it is as though the employee's contract of employment was always made with the new employer.

NB: Where an independent trade union had been recognised by the outgoing employer in respect of transferring employees, recognition will transfer to the incoming employer.