THE EZHR GUIDE TO MANAGING THE TEACHER STRIKES IN ENGLAND & WALES
During February and into March teachers across England and Wales are set to strike.
It is anticipated that the majority of state schools, if not all will either partially, or completely close, with services for the vulnerable and those with Key Stage tests prioritised.
The dates on which the strikes take place will vary on a regional and national basis, these being:
Wednesday, February 1 (England and Wales),
Tuesday, 14 February (just Wales)
Tuesday, 28 February (Northern, North West, and Humber regions),
Wednesday, 1 March (East Midlands, Western, Eastern regions)
Thursday, 2 March (London, South East, South West regions)
Wednesday, 15 March (England and Wales)
Thursday, 16 March (England and Wales)
It is highly likely that this action will impact employees who have children at school. The impact will vary depending on the age and the needs of the child.
There are a number of ways that employers can seek to address this.
Firstly, we recommended talking to employees about how they get in front of this issue so they have things in place and avoid disruption to your business.
As this is a planned disruption you should encourage employees to either use annual leave or take authorised unpaid leave. Unless there are unexpected issues on the day of the strikes you would not expect employees to request Emergency Leave of Time Off for Dependents as they have received reasonable notice for the strikes. However, you must give genuine consideration to those who have, despite genuine attempts, not been able to put child care in place or have been let down at the last minute.
Though it is worth reiterating this to your teams to ensure that everyone is aware.
You can make arrangements for a person to work from home on the days affected but you will need to balance the requirements of the child at home and the nature of their work. If you are unsure of someone’s situation you can reasonably ask about how they will organise themselves and what challenges they may experience on the day.
If possible it may be worth considering alternative hours, shift-swapping or condensed hours on the weeks of the strikes.
It is important that your employees start to consider their options now so that you avoid any panicked responses at a later date. Ask teams to start to understand how they are impacted and how you put things in place, also if an employee's solution doesn’t work for you don’t forget you can chat through other options and see if you can find a solution that best supports everyone.
