School Support Staff Negotiating Body

 

The School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) was established by the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on 7 July 2009 to negotiate school support staff pay and conditions of employment. It became a statutory body under the Apprenticeships, Children, Skills and Learning Act which received Royal Assent on 12 November 2009.  The relevant provisions of the Act came into effect on 12 January 2010.  Click here for the latest news on SSSNB.


SSSNB operates under a constitution and agreed additional procedural arrangements. The Act clauses set out the SSSNB’s remit as covering (a) the remuneration of school support staff or (b) conditions of employment relating to the duties or working time of school support staff.

The body aims to submit negotiated agreements and related guidance for ratification by the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families. SSSNB’s negotiations are based on a referral letter from the Secretary of State. The first letter (July 2009) requires SSSNB to initially focus on reaching agreements on the following for submission to the Secretary of State by 28 May 2010:
• Producing a core contract of employment to cover remuneration, duties and working time;
• Designing national job profiles to cover core support staff roles;
• Developing and producing a method for converting those job role profiles into a salary structure; and
• A strategy to effectively implement the national pay and conditions’ framework in all school maintained by local authorities in England including managing both transition and steady state.

The SSSNB can also submit agreements on matters within its remit but not referred to it by the Secretary of State. SSSNB will also submit to the Secretary of State an annual report on the performance of its functions. The first annual report is due in July 2010.

The body covers school support staff employed by local education authorities or governing bodies in maintained schools in England. It excludes school teachers and other staff whose contract of employment is covered by agreements of other bodies (see annex to the constitution for full list).

SSSNB membership is drawn from:
• Employers – not exceeding 15 members representing the Local Government Association, the Foundation and Aided Schools National Association, the Church of England Board of Education, and the Catholic Education Service for England and Wales
• Unions – not exceeding 15 members representing Unison, GMB and Unite the Union, and
• The Department for Children Schools and Families (representing the Secretary of State) and the Training and Development Agency – both as non-voting members.

Joint Secretaries
The employer side Joint Secretary is Sarah Messenger (Tel 0207 187 7342,  Email: sarah.messenger).
The trade union side Joint Secretaries are: Unison - Christina McAnea (Tel 0207 551 1693 or Email c.mcanea@unison.co.uk), GMB – Brian Strutton (Tel 020 8971 4255 Email Brian.Strutton@gmb.org.uk) and Unite the Union – Peter Allenson (Tel 020 7611 2566 Email Peter.Allenson@unitetheunion.com).

The SSSNB is led by an Independent Chair, Philip Ashmore, appointed by the Secretary of State in September 2008. The Independent Chair’s role is to ensure that matters referred to the body are negotiated appropriately and effectively and to facilitate the reaching of agreements. The Office of Manpower Economics assumed the secretariat responsibilities for SSSNB in April 2009.

Meeting arrangements. The full body will meet regularly throughout the year aiming for quarterly meetings when established. An Executive Group comprising representatives of member organisations will meet monthly to manage the work programme and prepare recommendations for referral to the full SSSNB. Under the direction of SSSNB and agreed terms of reference, two Working Groups will also assess the Core Contract and Working Year and Role Profiles and Job Measurement.

Background
Separate negotiating machinery for support staff derived initially from the 2003 Workforce Agreement between Government, employers and school workforce unions. The agreement sought to tackle teachers’ workload and recognised the contribution of support staff and their expanding numbers and roles. In 2006, the Support Staff Working Group (a sub group of the Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group comprising Government, employers and unions) was tasked by the Minister of State for Schools to undertake detailed work on models for new negotiating machinery, a common contract, standard job descriptions and a method of conversion to salaries, and improved career progression. In September 2008, the Secretary of State announced that the SSSNB would be set up to negotiate pay and conditions of support staff in maintained schools (in England) and it would “give a bigger voice to more than 300,000 school support staff”. The Secretary of State’s referral letter emphasises the “importance of achieving a consistent and coherent pay and conditions structure that brings about national consistency and local flexibility”.

The SSSNB is awaiting registration with the Information Commissioner to be recognised as a Data Controller. SSSNB’s Freedom of Information Publication Scheme is available here.



For any enquiries, please contact:

Gabrielle Kann, Office of Manpower Economics, 6th Floor, Kingsgate House, 66-74 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6SW. 
Tel: 020 7215 8461 Fax: 020 7215 4445 Email:Gabrielle.kann@bis.gsi.gov.uk