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NEU AdviceLine

Members seeking advice should contact the Advice Line by telephoning 0345 811 8111 – 9am to 7pm Monday to Friday or emailing AdviceLine@neu.org.uk

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Maternity Matters: Pregnancy loss and termination

 

The third call to action and resource pack in the Maternity Matters series has been published on the website.

We are calling on employers to uphold women’s rights at work. We want to see increased understanding among decision-makers in schools and colleges, and clearer and more informative workplace policies on baby loss and improved return to work arrangements.

Respondents to our 2022 survey revealed a lack of awareness of pregnancy loss and rights to leave and pay, the isolation that women and parents can experience when dealing with pregnancy loss and the lack of compassion and understanding from some line managers and colleagues. We’ve attempted to address this with guidance on ectopic and molar pregnancies, miscarriage, abortion, stillbirth and neonatal death. Our materials – including guidance, checklists, sample letters, model policy and campaign poster – give voice to women’s experiences of pregnancy loss and suggest how reps and members can work together to improve conditions at work for bereaved mothers and parents, for example campaigning for a right to up to 10 days’ paid baby loss leave and access to counselling.

We have updated our guidance on parental bereavement leave and pay.

 


Draft guidance for supporting trans children

The Department for Education (DfE) has released guidance on gender-questioning children that is currently out for consultation.

It is important to emphasise that:

  • This guidance is draft out for consultation – there is no need to change any existing policies in reaction to the draft guidance.
  • This guidance will be non-statutory and act as a guide for schools.

The union has some concerns about the guidance.

  • We believe this guidance will make it harder for schools to successfully meet the requirement under the Equality Act 2010, which is a responsibility to promote LGBT+ equality.
  • The NEU thinks that it is not compatible with the DfE’s Keeping Children Safe in Education, which is statutory.
  • It doesn’t draw on the Teachers’ Standards, which require all teachers to contribute to equitable and inclusive learning environments.

The NEU will be responding to the consultation and will say that the DfE needs to engage more fully with the education unions.

We encourage members to complete the consultation, in your own words, reflecting on your professional experience and best practice in your settings. The consultation can be found here. The deadline for responding is 12 March.

The NEU has a LGBT+ inclusion charter to enable education settings to evaluate how their LGBT+ staff members and LGBT+ young people feel in school; what their experiences are; and what barriers exist which all staff need to better understand.

The NEU also has guidance on this issue which has been provided to support schools to meet the learning needs of children and young people.


Workload Reduction Taskforce recommendations on performance related pay

As you will be aware the Government has agreed to remove the requirement for schools to use performance related pay (PRP) for teachers from September 2024. Although these changes will not be implemented until September, NEU officers should seek to engage those employers (local authorities and academy trusts) with which they have a negotiating relationship and which have not already abolished PRP, for a commitment to do so. Our arguments against the use of PRP are detailed on our website where you will also find our guide for negotiators. Where employers have already abolished PRP, officers should use the opportunity to make the case for extending this by abolishing the threshold application and adopting auto-progression along a nine-point scale and/or challenging other pay issues. We will write to officers this autumn to collate the outcomes of these negotiations as part of our move towards the development of a national bargaining database.

 


Model policy updates – appraisal, cover, capability and classroom observation

We are pleased to introduce our new NEU model policy on cover, which is now available on the NEU website. All schools should have an effective cover policy that establishes a strategy for dealing with absences in a way that protects teachers’ contractual right to ‘rarely cover’ and ensures that the roles and responsibilities of support staff members are clearly defined and respected.

Our model appraisal and capability policies have been amended to reflect our position that informal support should be provided via the appraisal process. Separate model policies for classroom observation and learning walks have now been merged into a simplified classroom observation model policy.

 


Measles

Measles is on the increase because levels of MMR vaccination in the population have dropped below a critical point. A surge in cases in the West Midlands and elsewhere have led to a National Incident being declared by UKHSA. The NEU has guidance on measles here, and a new poster to print out and display in schools and colleges.

 


Related Links

NEU Trust
NEU Rewards
Steve Sinnott Foundation
Samaritans
Citizens Advice
Money Advice Service
National Debt Line.org
Shelter
Centre Point.org.uk
Crisis
NHS Mental Health Services
Mind