Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the Government will review (a) pay and (b) conditions for school staff who have had to work through Easter and half term as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

The School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) covers the pay and conditions for teachers in maintained schools in England, and requires that teachers must be available to teach for 190 days each year. There are no plans to review this.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, we know that many schools have implemented a rota system so that any staff who are asked to work during a holiday period will have time off during normal term time. Teachers and other school staff will continue to be paid during this period as normal, and we expect schools to continue to fulfill their contractual duties to their staff.

Responsibility for the pay and conditions of support staff lies at a local level with headteachers and school employers; they are best placed to use their professional judgement to set terms and conditions to suit local circumstances.

Non-maintained schools, including academies and free schools, are responsible for determining the pay and conditions of their staff themselves; such schools are not obliged to follow the statutory arrangements set out in the STPCD, although they may still choose to do so if they wish.