Support staff in local authority-maintained schools have their pay and other terms and conditions determined through the National Joint Council (NJC) for local government services. The result of these negotiations is covered in The Green Book, and the national agreement on pay and conditions of service for local government services.

Many staff working in academies will also be subject to these provisions, either as a result of a TUPE transfer or because the trust they work in has chosen to adopt them as part of their terms and conditions of service. The Green Book was updated in May 2024.  

ASCL is committed to a system of national pay and conditions. In our evidence submission to the 36th remit, we have again included a direct representation on behalf of business leader members for the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) to include business leaders in its recommendations in order for them to be recognised and remunerated in the same way as other senior leaders.

We reiterated this call in our response to the government consultation on the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB).

We were delighted to see that, when the government finally published its response to the consultation, that it agreed with our view that those working in business leadership roles are school leaders and not support staff, and as such proposed to exclude them from the scope of the SSSNB. The response stated:  

“We also agree with respondents who said that individuals who hold strategic and organisational leadership responsibilities are not ‘school support staff’, and that the definition of ‘executive leaders’ alone would not fully capture senior non-teaching 
leadership roles in maintained schools and academy trusts. Senior, non-teaching leaders such as finance directors, senior business, finance and operational leaders within schools and academy trusts have responsibilities that are qualitatively different from operational support staff roles. They plan, direct and control activity across entire organisations. These roles therefore fall outside the intended scope of the SSSNB. 

Excluding senior leaders across all settings creates a clear, consistent boundary between operational support staff (in scope) and strategic leadership roles (out of scope), regardless of employer type.” 

Our negotiation and influencing on behalf of members, individually and collectively, is underpinned by ASCL’s position that business or other executive leaders who undertake whole-school, college or trust responsibilities are an integral part of the leadership team, and that this should be reflected in their status and remuneration – meaning that they should be paid with parity to other leadership colleagues holding the same level of responsibility. Where this is not the case, there should be a review of the business leader’s pay to ensure their crucial role is appropriately recognised and remunerated. Where possible, business leaders should be paid on the leadership pay range. 

ASCL’s Business Leaders: Support Hub provides guidance, tools (including a salary review business case template with guidance on how to complete it), and case studies relating to school business leaders’ pay, conditions and recognition. We also provide support to members on an individual basis, with confidential, dedicated one-to-one support from a member support officer or pay/conditions specialist, providing advice and guidance on matters such as making an application to their employer for a review of pay or conditions, re-structuring of their role, employment contract terms and conditions, pension arrangements, grievance processes, redundancy and dismissal.

Our guidance Pay, conditions and recognition for business leaders intends to bring more consistency and equality to the process of assessing the level of responsibilities to inform decisions about setting pay for those working in business leadership roles. 

Information on the latest NJC pay award can be found here.