HR Help in School Maternity

[Beesandtrees1234]

Hi,

I've been with my School as a support staff worker for 2 years and 9 months.

We've had a change to our job descriptions, and titles. We had to re-apply for our jobs, be interviewed and now we are on probation for 6 months on new contracts.

We've had no terms of our probation or official end date (can only presume Feb) I have asked for this a few times.

I wanted to try for another baby (health reasons and my age of mid to late thirties are against me) however I am terrified if funding is lost between now and Feb I'll loose my job instantly (or is redundancy possible?)

If I fall pregnant soon, I would be just 3 months along and it would mean I would have the first scan just after probation ends in Feb, I would wait for that to be offical in writing, and then tell them should I get lucky to get pregnant.

Am I missing anything major here, the school are starting to play dirty with a few staff members.

I would have worked 6 months in new role, and officially 3 years at the school.

I wanted to gave the baby end of July or is that also a mistake? Sorry if this seems ridiculous I am very stressed and upset and have alot on at the moment

Call ACAS, I think that even if they made you sign a new contract, continuous employment would start from the beginning of your first contract, so you would be eligible for redundancy and maternity rights even if you haven't been on the new contract long enough.

I'm not sure to understand your concern though? Do you think they would try to make you redundant if you announce your pregnancy?

I'm worried if funding stops before end of Feb (a child leaves) I would be let go without redundancy as on new contract.

If I pass probation then I would then be entilated to maternity as my work are saying our new contracts are not continuous employment.

your position within the school is based of your continuous service ie 2 year and 9 months. Your changing of post has no relevance on your protected rights for redundancy/sickness or maternity. For the example of a pregnancy in the HR world, you have enough service to be applicable for SMP and OMP however if you are fixed term and not permanent this will affect the way in which you receive your payments. Fixed term contracts generally will pay a lump sum at the end of your leave whilst permanent roles you will have options for lump, spread or shared parental leave.

Having just read your above reply, I can see that a new contract was issued due to your relinquishing your permanent role to take on a fixed term contract due to SEN. They cannot make you redundant however they can end your contract at the end of the term due to T&Cs of your new contract. Pregnancy will not stop this from happening however they may continue to pay your maternity leave up to a point before issuing you an SSP form for the job centre

All support staff are on temporary contracts that are renewed end of July when this change happened to our job titles, descriptions ect and contracts we didn't have much choice we were told it was a better choice for us all which is now not the case, we were told our previous years didn't count hence the probation

It’s a slightly unorthodox situation. Have you also had a break in service between your previous and new contract? Why are all support staff on temporary contracts? Perhaps a call to ACAS as previously suggested would be a good idea. Having worked in schools HR & Payroll for years, the idea that all support staff are temporary is not something that is common. It could potentially be one role ie TA that is under budget cuts but this would have been discussed in depth with the schools Employee relations and something discussed with the candidates applying. As I said there must have been a break in service for the continuous service to be disregarded in your new contracts. If this is the case then your maternity rights start again as of your contractual start day for your new role

TAs are on permanent contracts 1:1 support staff are not, we are funded based and on temporary rolling contracts that are renewed at the end of July pending funding. None of us have had a break in service, we've worked there for years, all that changed was our job titles, descriptions and new contracts issued, we all had to re apply for our jobs, re interview also, this was across all of the academy it was pretty brutal.

Are you in a union?? If not, join now!

I would join a union tomorrow op. Sounds like the MAT are rolling everyone over. (Former education support staff here)

Yes in a union

This sounds like a complex case where a state school has TUPED into an academy and therefore you had to reapply for your roles. As your FX/T with an end date of 31/08/26 this will not go favourably for you unless your continuous service has been rolled over. Even then, without a perm contract your position is not the strongest to receive OMP & SMP. You need to join a Union asap and get some proper advice. The fact you signed new contracts that laid out your new T&C’s will need to be looked into. Hope this helps