JNC Flexible Working Feb 2025
Renfrewshire Council · 11 February 2025
Back to Renfrewshire Council Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff — 11 February 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Renfrewshire Joint Negotiating Committee for Teachers To: Renfrewshire Joint Negotiating for Teachers On: 11th February 2025 Flexible Working Policy Report by Joint Secretary (Teachers’ Side) Background The Council updated its Flexible Working Policy in line with the Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 which came into force on April 6, 2024, giving employees the right to request flexible working from their first day of employment and the right to make two requests per year. The Council’s corporate policy was passed, without consultation with the teaching unions and is now being applied to all employees, including teachers and employees governed by SNCT terms and conditions, despite the varying remits and demands across the Service. Notwithstanding the lack of consultation, there are elements in the new proposals which are welcomed by the trade unions, however, subsequent to its introduction, many questions have been raised about the policy by a growing number of teachers, many of whom are discontent at the response to their applications for temporary periods of flexible working for reasons of childcare where it had been previous custom and practice to allow temporary applications. Childcare is referenced as a legitimate reason for granting flexible working in The Employment Act 2002, which amends The Employment Rights Act 1996 (Par 8A of which, relates to Flexible working). Section 80F states that: the …purpose in applying for the change is to enable him to care for someone who, at the time of application, is a child in respect of whom he satisfies such conditions as to relationship as the Secretary of State may specify by regulations. Then
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(3) An application under this section must be made before the fourteenth day before the day on which the child concerned reaches the age of six or, if disabled, eighteen. The Renfrewshire Flexible Working Policy also states: 6. Principles of Flexible Working 6.1 … You can request flexible working for any reason. Reasons are not limited to caring and/or family responsibilities. The imperative to be flexible on the grounds of childcare are therefore acknowledged in legislation and in the Council’s own policy. But too often marrying policy with practice is proving problematic. The teaching unions are concerned that the enactment of the policy sometimes runs contrary to the above stated principles because some school managers, who claim to be acting on the directions of HR, are insisting that childcare is not a legitimate reason for requesting flexibility. This instruction and dogmatic approach have given rise to a number of concerns and frustrations. Said concerns are particularly voiced by women seeking to alter their working patterns to delay the transition back to full time work following a period of maternity leave; many hope to take reduced hours in the first year or two of their child’s life and then resume their full-time contractual commitment. The Flexible Working policy suggests that this is permitted. The policy states at par 6.7: If you require temporary or short-term support with family responsibilities or personal commitments, your manager will discuss and consider informal, alternative forms of flexibility with you. This may include if applicable . . . temporary, short-term changes to your hours of work, days, start/finish times and hybrid working. Despite this clause many requests continue to be rejected and women are being told that temporary arrangements can only be agreed in exceptional circumstances. It is worrying that many female employees’ requests for temporary reduced hours are being met with near-blanket refusals or citing too many other temporary employees as a reason for rejection. Similarly, requests for flexible arrangements for short periods (of up to 12 months) are being refused, met with an insistence that all applications need to be day 1 permanent contractual variations leaving many teachers with the dilemma of whether to reduce their long-term income prospects or to care for their families in the short term. Not all women can afford to give up full-time work altogether and it is unfair that they should need to make this choice.
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The implications for staff morale and staff retention cannot be overstated. The practice is also adding unnecessary stress and a financial detriment, to one section of the predominantly female teaching workforce, and fails to uphold the principles that the Council claims to protect. Indeed, in the introduction to the Flexible Working policy it states: 1.1 We are working to be the most supportive, caring and inclusive employer we can be, providing you with a workplace where you feel safe, valued and listened to, a place where you will have a good experience each day and feel supported to achieve your own goals… Furthermore, the Council’s Fair Work First statement was endorsed by the EIS on the understanding that further discussions would take place around three issues: flexible working; zero hours contracts; supply teachers’ contracts. The teaching unions have had only limited discussions to date around the three areas to allow us to present difficulties in implementing the flexible working arrangements. Many teachers are seeking a temporary reduction of full-time work for short periods of up to twelve months due to childcare commitments and the legislation acknowledges that childcare is a fundamental reason for making a request, yet women are being told that childcare is not an exceptional enough reason to grant a request. This is at odds with the legal reasons for flexibility and with the Council’s own principles and policy. The Council’s claim to be a family-friendly employer is not the experience of many young female teachers. It is of concern that one group- predominantly women with childcare responsibilities- is being denied the option of flexibility, for a temporary period. It has also come to the attention of the teaching unions that not all applications within the Authority are being processed in line with the policy which states that applications should be made via Businessworld. This is meant to be the hub for applications yet teachers are being asked to submit the old-format digital forms directly to schools as the forms have not been migrated to Businessworld. This means that there is no real objective oversight over applications -if that is what the Council is attempting to do on Businessworld. Neither can equity and consistency be guaranteed. The need for separate systems for different parts of the workforce and specific other different arrangements for teachers may indicate the need for a specific policy applicable to teaching staff rather than the corporate policy currently in place and the teaching unions would be keen to engage in discussions around this. Finally, one union rep, who is representative of the general consensus, writes on behalf of her own members: … multiple members believe that the policy does not offer any support for young working mothers. The new implementation of the policy is having a detrimental impact,
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by forcing them to make a choice at a time that is already emotional and full of change. We are supposed to be a caring profession and think of other parents but this policy is falling short because it fails to acknowledge that teachers can be parents too. Those who have benefitted in the past from a year of flexibility were able to manage childcare, spend time with their own children in those crucial early years and feel far more supported in their workplace. It feels like a step backwards and against the spirit of the legislation and flies in the face of any sort of work/life balance or wellbeing of staff- particularly women. I understand that childcare isn't the only reason for applying for flexible working but if a return from Maternity isn't seen as exceptional then it limits supporting women, unless they can prove there are other exceptional or extenuating circumstances. Any kind of return to work after an extended absence that is as life altering as the birth of a child is absolutely "exceptional" for that individual person! Action • The trade unions are seeking agreement that where childcare is given as a reason for a flexible working request that the request is looked upon favourably, without the need to prove exceptional circumstances. • The trade unions are seeking head teacher discretion to allow a flexible temporary period - to be agreed at establishment level - before any teacher is required to make a permanent reduction to their normal hours. This could be for up to twelve months, or longer if circumstances allow it. • The trade unions wish to explore a specific policy for flexible working in schools that includes temporary arrangements and a reference to childcare as acceptable reasons for granting applications.