Employers Prepare for Teacher Strike Disruption
Preparations for strike days will be well underway at affected schools. It is also sensible to consider the potential impact on employers more generally.
We reported last week on the planned teachers strikes which start in England and Wales on 1 February.
When Will the Strikes Be Happening?
There are seven strike days in total, comprising a mixture of regional and national strikes. Each individual school will be affected for a maximum of four of these dates:
- 1 February - all schools in England and Wales
- 14 February - all schools in Wales
- 28 February - North and North West England, Yorkshire and Humber
- 1 March - East Midlands, West Midlands and the NEU's eastern region
- 2 March - South East and South West England, and London
- 15 and 16 March - all schools in England and Wales
Childcare Commitments During School Closures
In any sector, staff with school-aged children may well find themselves impacted by the teachers' strikes. It is sensible to plan for potential disruption by engaging with staff in advance about their personal circumstances and how best to manage the strike days. Depending on the work carried out by affected staff, it may be possible for individuals to work flexibly on strike days. For example, this could involve making up their hours in the evening or at a later date, or could involve swapping non-working days. Otherwise, staff with spare holiday could book a day's annual leave to cover each strike day.
Sometimes it is not possible for staff to work flexibly or take holiday. If so, the following unpaid statutory leave may be available to affected staff:
- Time off for dependants - this enable employees to take a reasonable period of unpaid time off in order to deal with emergencies involving their dependants. This leave applies to all employees irrespective of their length of service. However, under the statutory scheme, the leave is only to be taken for specific reasons, which include "unexpected" events that disrupt childcare. Arguably, there has been enough notice of teachers' strikes to enable staff to make alternative arrangements for childcare on the affected days. However, depending on the circumstances this may not be the case or in any event employers may be willing to enable staff to use these rights in these circumstances given that it is an event which is unplanned and out of their control.
- Parental leave - parents with at least one year's continuous service, and who have parental responsibility for a child aged up to 18, are entitled to take up to 18 weeks leave per child at any time before the child's 18th birthday. However, the default position is that the employee must give at least 21 days' notice of their intention to take parental leave. Leave is also capped at 4 weeks per year, and must be taken in blocks of one week. All of these requirements can be varied by agreement, but otherwise parental leave may not be the appropriate leave to take during teacher strikes.
Best Practice for Employers
Employers should approach staff members' individual circumstances with sensitivity and apply flexibility wherever possible. It is sensible to be proactive in order to plan ahead for strike days and potential disruption. If neither of the two types of statutory leave summarised above are appropriate, you can also agree for staff to take a day's leave on an unpaid basis on strike days.