Absence Cover- Application of JNC 11
Renfrewshire Council · 3 February 2026
Back to Renfrewshire Council Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff — 3 February 2026 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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PUBLIC Agenda Item .......... Renfrewshire Joint Negotiating Committee for Teachers To: Renfrewshire Joint Negotiating Committee for Teachers On: 3rd February, 2026 Report by Joint Secretary (Teachers’ Side) Absence Cover- Application of JNC 11 1. Background Cover agreements are a devolved matter, delegated to JNC (JNC 2). The agreed arrangements that should apply to absence cover in Renfrewshire are outlined in JNC 11, first agreed in 2005/06. A link to the policy is here for information: https://www.snct.org.uk/library/993/JNC11.pdf JNC 11 has been updated and revised on several occasions through the JNC: It was revised in 2007 to take account of the introduction of the 33-period week. It was revised in September, 2015 to amend budgets and allow absence cover underspends to be allocated to schools thereby adjusting the level of virement allowable to school budgets. The matter of absence cover is, and has long been, a workload issue for teachers in schools who are regularly allocated additional duties to cover for absent colleagues. The JNC on 21st March 2023 previously highlighted the Teachers’ Side concerns about supply staff availability and first proposed the introduction of Booker to ease some of the pressures. Whilst internal cover is manageable in the short term it becomes less so, long term, if supply cover is not provided. Some specific principles underpin JNC 11 and the provision of cover in schools. The agreement also identifies responsibility for financing of cover and where the school and Council responsibility lies. The agreement places limits on the time that teachers should cover internally and makes reference to a permanent supply pool. It also references fairness and equity in the allocation of internal cover. These principles are being undermined by current practices where it has become commonplace in schools to alter timetables of existing staff to accommodate shortfalls in staffing rather than pay for supply teachers to fill absences. This is onerous for teachers and disruptive for learners who can go for long periods without a subject specialist teacher.
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PUBLIC JNC 11 clearly defines when supply cover should be brought into schools and it states clearly that each school should have collegiate discussions around affordable levels of cover and that these should be written into a school-based agreement. There are few schools now where this is the practice and the Teachers’ Side is seeking further discussions to understand why the agreed policy is not fully practised because it is the responsibility of all parties to the JNC to ensure that agreements are followed in schools, including the arrangements for absence cover, short and long term. 2. Recommendations That current practices in schools are investigated in relation to JNC 11 and fed back to a future JNC. That schools are reminded of the agreement and the expectation that agreed absence cover arrangements are adhered to.