Employer Link newsletter - September

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Employer link 2019

Connecting human resources and finance professionals with expert employment guidance

1 September 2020

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This newsletter provides a round-up of all the relevant news that Employer Link has gathered over the last month.

You will need to be logged in to the service to access some of the detailed reports. Please refer to the How to access the Employer Link services to ensure you and colleagues have access to all relevant resources.


COVID-19

A collection of guidance can now be found on the Useful Resources concertina, under the COVID-19 heading. All government guidance is available on their website. Please note that as from July the Government has started to “streamline” its guidance, meaning it is withdrawing any timebound guidance and consolidating guidance where appropriate.

A collection of Employer guidance and Government updates from July are included at the foot of this newsletter.


Pay negotiations: National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Government Services (Green Book)

The NJC has reached an agreement of 2.75 per cent on all points of the national pay spine which applies from 1 April 2020. The agreement was reached on 24 August 2020.

The pay circulars and associated documents are available to download. 


Pay consultation: School Teachers Pay & Conditions Document (England only)

The Government published the School Teachers Review Body’s (STRB) 30th report on the teachers’ pay award for 2020. Its consultation runs through to 14 September 2020.

The LGA has set up a page on its website with all the relevant information.


Pay negotiations: Soulbury

The National Employers and the Staff Associations on the Soulbury Committee have reached a pay agreement for a 2.75 per cent increase for Soulbury Officers for this year to be implemented on 1 September. Soulbury Officers are Education Improvement Professionals, Educational Psychologists and Young People’s Community Service Managers.


Pay negotiations: Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) for Chief Executives of Local Authorities

The JNC has reached an agreement of 2.75 per cent with effect from 1 April 2020.

The pay circulars and associated documents are available to download.


Pay negotiations: Joint Negotiating Committee for Chief Officers of Local Authorities

The JNC has reached an agreement of 2.75 per cent with effect from 1 April 2020.

The pay circulars and associated documents are available to download.


 

Pay negotiations: Fire and Rescue Services

The latest information is available to download.


Employment Law

The latest edition of our monthly bulletin is available to download.

Remember, you can sign up to receive this directly, along with other newsletters such as the Workforce Bulletin. These are all free as part of the Employer Link subscription. 


Local Government Pension Scheme

The latest edition of our monthly bulletin can be found on the Bulletin page of www.lgpsregs.org and the Bulletin page of www.scotlgpsregs.org.


Teachers’ Pension Scheme

The latest edition of our monthly bulletin is available to download.

Remember, you can sign up to receive this directly, along with other newsletters such as the Workforce Bulletin. These are all free as part of the Employer Link subscription.


Fire Pension Scheme

FPS bulletin 36 is now available from www.fpsregs.org.


Newly qualified teachers

On 11 August Department for Education (DfE) laid new regulations that extends COVID-19 absence provision for NQT’s until 1 September 2021.

This means that any NQT absences taken before 1 September 2021, that is related to COVID-19, will not contribute towards the 30-day absence limit that would cause an automatic extension of the induction period. Government guidance has been updated to reflect this amendment.


Initial Teacher Training

To help providers reduce the impact of COVID-19 on their initial teacher training (ITT) provision, alternative arrangements are being put in place for the lesson observation element of the end point assessment (EPA).


Keeping Children Safe in Education

The latest version of the guidance was published on 1 September 2020.


Events

Details of events can be found on the Employer link Events Page.

Our latest event is a free webinar, which is focusing on supporting the mental health and wellbeing of staff in schools. The webinar will be taking place on Friday 2 October. If you have not received a discount code for the webinar please email us.


COVID-19 Workforce survey

The LGA is carrying out bi-weekly surveys of councils on a range of workforce metrics to understand the impact of the pandemic. This includes the need to recruit additional staff, to furlough staff as well as absence rates and those that have recorded a death in service. Employer Link subscribers may find this of interest from a benchmarking point of view.


A collection of Employer guidance and Government updates from August:


If you have any questions about any of the items in this newsletter or any difficulties in logging into the secure parts of the website, please contact us.