Teachers'Pay Policy

WHOLE SCHOOL PAY POLICY

INTRODUCTION

It is the responsibility of the Board of Governors to establish and review periodically a whole school pay policy, which includes non-teaching staff, observing all statutory and contractual obligations.

It is the aim of the Board of Governors to maintain and improve the quality of education within the school by introducing a pay policy which supports the school’s development and contributes to the morale of all staff.

The Board of Governors seeks to ensure that all staff (teaching and ancillary) are valued and receive proper recognition for their work and their contribution to the school.

2. PROCEDURES

The pay policy will be administered by a sub committee of the Board of Governors, called the Pay Policy Sub Committee.

The sub committee, consisting of three voting members of the Board of Governors will determine the points score of each teacher and will give to each teacher by 30 June each year a statement of the teacher’s points score (see Appendix 1).

It would be inappropriate for the teacher representative on the Board of Governors to be a member of the Pay Policy Sub Committee. Neither should the Principal be a member of the sub committee but the sub committee will want to invite the Principal to attend for the sole purpose of giving information and providing comment on the duties performed by individual teachers.

In deciding on each teacher’s point score, the sub committee must:

·       observe all statutory and contractual obligations;

·       apply the criteria of the pay policy in determining the salary of each member of staff

·       minute the reasons for all decisions

If dissatisfied by the points statement, a teacher may appeal to an Appeals Sub Committee of the Board of Governors, consisting of three voting members of the Board of Governors who are not members of the Pay Policy Sub Committee. Neither the Principal or the teacher representative should be members of the Appeals Sub Committee.

NOTE: It may be that an independent appeal procedure beyond the Governor’s own appeal procedure will be agreed between employers and teacher unions.

Any member of staff may ask for a salary review at any time but only in exceptional circumstances will a review take place at a time other than at the annual review.

CONSULTATION & REVIEW

The Pay Policy Sub Committee will review the whole school pay policy annually and will consult the staff as part of that review through the usual school structures for staff involvement in the decision making process. It will then make recommendations to the Board of Governors which will take decisions. All members of staff and each Governor will be given a copy of the current whole school pay policy.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

The Board of Governors will provide equal opportunities for all staff and will comply with legislation on equal opportunities. It will seek to avoid discrimination on the grounds of gender, marital status, sexuality, race, colour, creed, nationality or disability.

CRITERIA

On the recommendations of the pay policy sub committee, the Board of Governors will decide criteria for awarding points under the headings of:-

Experience

Points for Responsibilities

Recruitment and Retention

Special Educational Needs

Threshold

APPOINTMENTS

The Board of Governors will advertise all permanent posts in at least

two daily Northern Ireland newspapers. It will use its discretion on

whether or not to advertise temporary posts of up to a year’s duration.

Responsibility Points

Responsibility points will be awarded on either a permanent or

temporary basis.

A temporary responsibility point or temporary

points may be offered (a) to a teacher to undertake a task of limited

duration or (b) to undertake a task for a limited period of time because:

·       the Governors are not in a position to commit the necessary funding permanently. In the latter circumstances, the teacher will not be expected to continue with the work after the temporary payment has been withdrawn.

In certain circumstances, Governors may want to increase the responsibility points given to a teacher in recognition of extra duties undertaken. It will refer such a consideration to a pay policy sub committee for a decision. However, with the flexibility noted in 6 (iii), it will be the policy of the Board of Governors to advertise internally duties attracting responsibility points in the way recommended in the employer’s Scheme of Management or in the Scheme of Management accepted by the Board of Governors if it is the employer.

Acting up allowances.

Except in the case of the Vice-Principal acting up for the Principal, the Board of Governors will use its discretion in deciding whether or not to advertise internally any acting up allowance of more than 20 days duration which it may decide to make available. The next highest paid teacher will be approached to deputise for the principal in the absence of a Vice-Principal.

JOB DESCRIPTIONS

Job Descriptions will be provided for all staff, teaching and non-teaching, and they will be consulted individually over content. Job Descriptions will be reviewed annually.

STAFFING STRUCTURE

The Board of Governors will review and determine the staffing structure of the school annually and in time to inform the Pay Policy Sub Committee before its deliberations on teachers’ point statements.

PRINCIPALS’ & VICE-PRINCIPALS’ SALARIES

The Pay Policy Sub Committee will review annually the salary of the Principal and Vice-Principal/s using the criteria agreed by the Board of Governors. Factors and procedures taken into consideration will include:-

·       the responsibilities of the post

·       the social and economic background of the pupils

·       difficulty in filling the post

·       differentials (between Principal and Vice-Principal/s and the next highest paid teacher)

·       an incremental procedure through the relevant salary ranges for Principal and Vice-Principal/s performance (temporary or permanent award of salary)

APPENDIX 1

TEACHERS’ SALARIES -

ANNUAL POINTS STATEMENT

Dear

I wish to confirm that the Pay Policy Sub Committee of the Board of Governors has completed its review of your salary and has decided that with effect from 1 September 200 , you should be paid;

 Spine Point ( ) £ _____        .

·       Salary points for experience Point

·       Salary points for responsibility (temporary or permanent) Point

·       Salary points for special needs Point

·       Salary points for recruitment/retention Point

·       Salary points for threshold Point

Should you wish to appeal the salary placement made by the Sub Committee, you should do so by writing to me within ten working days of receipt of this letter, setting out your grounds for appeal.

Yours sincerely

SECRETARY TO BOARD OF GOVERNORS