revisiting middle and senior leadership pay, pay progression, appraisal and organisational...

Revisiting Middle and Senior Leadership Pay, Pay Progression,

Appraisal and Organisational Structures after the 2014 STRB Report

Educate School Services LtdThe Kensington Centre 66 Hammersmith Road

London W14 8UD

www.educateservices.co.uk

We’ll come to the detail later, but in essence the effect of the STRB report is to bring pay and pay progression arrangements for senior leaders into line with those established last year for teachers.

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Statutory pay points will be abolished and governors will be free to make their own performance-related pay progression arrangements within the pay bands they have established, hopefully with reference to national benchmarking data guidance.

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TLR’s have been left pretty much alone but we

are nevertheless going to suggest that they are at the centre of your thinking about leadership pay and pay progression – not least because of the sharper focus on the quality of middle leadership in the latest Ofsted Handbook.

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There is no expectation for governors to rush

to change leadership pay structures. Most will wish to keep existing pay points for now. But decisions on pay points and the criteria for pay progression in 2015 will need to be in place in time for the start of the 2014-15 appraisal cycle.

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The changes are being introduced before schools have yet had the opportunity to make their first performance-related pay decisions for teachers under closer Ofsted scrutiny and at a time when it has become clear that inspectors are much more interested in the quality of teaching over time than in what they see in individual lessons.

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It is also quite clear from recent inspections that schools need a relationship with governors which enables them to understand pay progression recommendations based on detailed anonymised information on the overall quality of teaching and on the impact of support provided to those teachers and leaders identified as underperforming.


Now that the STRB Report has been accepted by Michael Gove, it is possible to say that schools will need to have the same procedures and paperwork in place for handling appraisal and pay progression for both teachers and leaders.


• Governors need to have adopted detailed descriptors setting out the level of performance that they expect from teachers and leaders at each pay point.

• There needs to be a fair and appealable process in place for establishing the current level of each teacher’s and leader’s performance to set against these expectations.


• This audit process needs to address the individual components of high quality teaching and/or leadership rather than an overall judgement.

• Professional development appraisal objectives need to be related to the “weakest” areas – or what the inspection handbook refers to as “identified need”.


• Governors need to receive anonymised information detailing the number of teachers and leaders who are performing in-line with their expectations.

• For those identified as underperforming, they need half termly anonymised reports showing the areas of concern and the impact of the support provided via appraisal in addressing them.


This information will enable them to understand, question and support the anonymised pay progression recommendations presented at the end of the appraisal cycle.


Our advice, based on the recent strategic

reviews of governance we have conducted, is that they also need to have the same type of regularly updated evidence for groups of pupils identified as underperforming.


We’ll now have a quick look at some key quotes; drawn together from a wide variety of sources that support the approach we are suggesting.

We’ll also look at the materials we developed last year to support tighter pay progression for teachers. The task for this year is to produce parallel versions of these materials for leaders; we have some concrete examples to share later in the session.


Changes to Leadership Pay and Appraisal

Educate School Services LtdThe Kensington Centre 66 Hammersmith Road

London W14 8UD

www.educateservices.co.uk

Summary of Changes

The main changes to the document for September 2014 (subject to the outcome of final consultation) are as follows:• Revised framework for setting pay for leadership

positions.• Simplified leadership pay arrangements.• Removal of prescribed differentials between

allowances; existing requirement for pay differentials between roles also removed.


• Streamlining of leadership allowances by bringing them into base pay, save for exceptional, time-bound payments e.g. for relocation and housing.

• Abolition of the Chartered London Teacher scheme, with proposed 2-year phase-out period.

• Consolidation of the existing safeguarding provisions.


• Removal of the list of 21 administrative / clerical tasks.

• Removal of the non-statutory Section 4 guidance.• Section 3 is now significantly shorter than the

2013 version and only contains guidance that it is essential to retain in statutory form.

• A number of revisions to reflect necessary updates which have arisen since the last STPCD was published, in September 2013.


Leadership Pay

Changes to the determination of leadership group pay under this document should only be applied to individuals appointed to a leadership post on or after 1st September 2014, or whose responsibilities have significantly changed. Draft STPCD 2014 Para 4.1


What Hasn’t Changed• 1265 hours; 195 days.• Salary safeguarding (other than consolidation of

provisions).• Lack of national standards for TLR holders, Assistant

Heads and Deputy Heads.• TLRs themselves other than the abolition of the

£1500 differential.• Leadership & Management time.• PPA time.


Schools may also choose to review the pay of all of their leadership posts under the new arrangements if they determine that this is required to maintain consistency with pay arrangements for new appointments to the leadership team made on or after 1 September 2014.Draft STPCD 2014 Para 4.2


The relevant body must ensure that the process of determining the remuneration of the Headteacher is fair and transparent. There should be a proper record made of the reasoning behind the determination of the individual school range and any discretionary payments made to the Headteacher.Section 3 Guidance Para 7


Pay Progression for Leadership Group

The relevant body must consider annually whether or not to increase the salary of members of the leadership group (namely Headteachers, assistant Headteachers and deputy Headteachers) who have completed a year of employment since the previous pay determination and, if so, to what salary within the relevant pay range.Draft STPCD 2014 Para 11.1


The decision whether or not to award pay progression must be related to the individual’s performance, as assessed through the school or authority’s appraisal arrangements in accordance with the 2102 regulations in England or the 2011 regulations in Wales.

Draft STPCD 2014 Para 11.2


A recommendation on pay must be made in writing as part of the individual’s appraisal report, and the relevant body must have regard to this recommendation; pay decisions must be clearly attributable to the performance of the individual.Draft STPCD 2014 Para 11.2


Sustained high quality of performance having regard to the results of the most recent appraisal carried out in accordance with the 2012 or the 2011 regulations or the objectives agreed or set under paragraph 11.2(c) (as the case may be) should give the individual an expectation of progression up the pay range.Draft STPCD 2014 Para 11.2


The relevant body should ensure that it reviews the performance of members of the leadership group, having regard to the criteria for leadership group progression, any recommendation on pay progression recorded in the teacher’s most recent appraisal report and any considerations set out in the relevant body's own pay policy.STPCD Section 3 Guidance Para 25


TLRs

Having decided to award a TLR, the relevant body must determine whether to award a first TLR (“TLR1”) or a second TLR (“TLR2”) and its value, in accordance with their pay policy, provided that-(a) The annual value of a TLR1 must be no less than £7,397 and no greater than £12,517;(b) The annual value of a TLR2 must be no less than £2,561 and no greater than £6,259.Draft STPCD 2014 Para 20.2


Remainder of the Session• Agreeing pay points.

• Agreeing progression criteria – for senior leaders and TLR holders.

• Auditing leadership skill levels to establish developmental appraisal objectives – for senior leaders and TLR holders.


Three possible approaches to leadership pay1.Keep everything as it is but amend pay policy to include progression criteria for senior leaders and TLR holders.2.Redesign senior leadership structure; leave TLR’s as they are with clear progression criteria.3.Conduct a complete leadership structure review and possibly abolish TLR’s altogether.

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revisiting middle and senior leadership pay, pay progression, appraisal and organisational...

Documents

pay bands

senior leadership pay

statutory pay points

existing pay points

school services

leaders performance

identified need

progression recommendations