Deciding Staffing Levels

Under LMS, the Governing Body decides how many teachers should be employed in the school.
When a school thinks that it could be in difficulty meeting its salary bill, the Governors may decide to consider employing fewer teachers.  This decision has to be taken before the actual budget is known, but the LA will have indicated the likely situation, given the number of pupils on roll each January and budget strategy plans.

Section 188 Notices

The school should then issue a "Section 188" or precautionary redundancy notice, stating its proposals.  Schools should do this whenever they intend to reduce the establishment of a school, even if they hope to solve it by somebody leaving or there are Fixed-Term Contracts.
The fact that a contract is temporary or fixed-term is not in itself sufficient reason to select for redundancy.  No further action should be taken until the Section 188 consultation starts.

The Union's role

Any reduction in establishment is a job loss.  The NUT will want to examine all proposals to reduce staffing.  The NUT may contest those proposals if there are feasible alternatives, checking the need to make savings, the curriculum, class size, etc.  There should be a meeting of staff, to which the Unions are invited, to start this formal consultation process.  From this point on, keep in constant contact with the NUT, especially if any members are thinking of volunteering.

Most redundancies don’t go past the voluntary stage if there is natural wastage or obviously if someone volunteers, however the compulsory stage requires union representation, please call the Regional Office for help at this stage.

REDUNDANCY LEAFLET