The National Agreement on school remodelling brought about changes to teachers� contracts, helping them to refocus on teaching and making a difference to their workload. These changes were achieved by deploying more support staff in schools and developing new roles with a broader range of responsibilities.

Support staff play a crucial role in raising standards in schools.  In recognition of this, the increasing number of support staff and the various and, often, inconsistent practices adopted in relation to their pay and grading, the Minister of State for Schools invited representatives of support staff unions and employers, including the Foundation and Aided Schools� National Association (FASNA) to establish a Support Staff Working Group (SSWG).

What is SSWG discussing?
Initially the Minister asked the group to identify, and report on, options to achieve a more strategic framework for the development of support staff roles, pay, terms and conditions in all maintained schools.  He then gave the group a remit to focus on the option of setting up a new negotiating council for support staff and any wider impact of such a move.

What would a council do?
The council�s remit would be to develop a method in order to provide a nationally consistent approach to support staff employment matters with school-level flexibility. It would provide a framework for all schools to use when determining support staff pay and conditions in the same way that the School Teachers� Pay and Conditions document does for teachers.  It would issue guidance and advice on all support staff employment and pay matters.

When will the council be established?
The Minister has announced September 2008 as the target date for the introduction of the council.  In the meantime, from January 2008, the process to appoint an independent person to chair the council will begin and a �shadow body�, consisting of the members of SSWG, will continue with the technical discussions, including working on the detail of what the new framework might look like.  It is likely that the membership of the council will reflect the current membership of SSWG.

What will this mean for my school?
The intention is that once a new framework is agreed it will apply to all maintained schools in England, including foundation, community, voluntary aided (VA) and voluntary controlled (VC) schools.  This framework will provide schools with the flexibility to employ support staff in ways that are best suited to their local needs and circumstances, while at the same time ensuring that a nationally consistent approach, which is transparent, efficient and treats support staff fairly, is adopted.

What will change for self-governing schools?
The governing body will remain the employer and will use the framework as a basis for taking decisions with regard to all staff.  We know that the majority of foundation and VA schools currently refer to their local authority�s (LA) pay grades and scales when making decisions about support staff employment.  The proposed new framework will provide a similar form of information and guidance.

What will change for community and voluntary controlled schools?
The LA will remain the employer and be responsible for making staff appointments. Governing bodies will continue to carry out their current functions relating to the employment of support staff, including making the assessment of, and recommendation for, the pay grade and scale of any support staff appointed.  However, the new framework will supersede LA pay scales when making those assessments. 

What does this mean for Single Status?
If the Single Status process has not yet been concluded in your LA, it must continue.  Any framework would build on the Single Status structures that LAs have worked hard to develop.

What happens next?
From January 2008, a shadow body will continue to develop the detail of the proposed framework and will regularly report back to the Minister reflecting the views of the various members of the shadow body in order that he can take the final decisions. 

How will we find out more?
As more information becomes available it will be published on GovernorNet, TeacherNet, Spectrum magazine and directly from groups represented on the Support Staff Working Group.