Update No. 1

March 2003

UNISON Officers met with the County Council Education Department on 18^th March 2003 to discuss some of the many Single Status issues raised by members across the county.

Many staff have not been given the opportunity to see the full range of JDQs for their position within their job family. All schools have received strong guidance from the County Council that this should be included within the process to make it open and transparent. At several schools staff have been assigned JDQs as a �fait accompli� with little or no discussion. This approach has left many staff feeling very unhappy and undervalued; and is likely to result in more appeals. The County Council will shortly be sending guidance on the appeals procedure to all staff.

The Single Status process has strict guidance regarding the final position of staff within the new grade. If a school wants to put a member of staff at another point within a grade then this must be submitted in writing to the County Council.

The method of progression through a salary grade will depend on achievement of competencies and performance. A working party is currently considering the competencies for each role. These progression criteria will be released as phase II of the Single Status process.

The County Council has taken the approach of not writing specific JDQs for each role but has written broad JDQs within job families. This gives head teachers the flexibility to assign JDQs with a suitable level of responsibility to each role. However, this has resulted in confusion for both head teachers and staff. Frequently raised issues regarding specific roles are detailed over the page.

There are only two job description levels for the post of science technician. In many of the larger schools in the county the technician team has a senior technician whose role includes a significant amount of management including selection & recruitment of staff, performance reviews etc. The County Council will draft a Science Technician JDQ level C, which will include management aspects.

The JDQ for this role must reflect the �care� aspect of the job. Currently the JDQ for Teaching Assistant level D has been sent to Hillside Special School for discussion and will be adapted to reflect the role requirements and will recognise the physical and emotional stresses of working within special schools.

The JDQs for Residential Care Assistants have not yet been finalised and will be released as soon as practicable.

There are no specific JDQs for this role but the job family is Teaching Assistant with levels A-D. For those staff in Pupil Referral Units, where staff go into schools and advise teachers, a level C Teaching Assistant JDQ is deemed appropriate by the County Council.

Some schools have not included caretakers within the Single Status process. The County Council will be contacting those schools and re-advise head teachers of the need to include caretaking staff within the procedures.

Schools have been informed that 1^st October 2002 is the date that should be used for back dated pay purposes.

UNISON needs your views for future Single Status negotiations. If you have any issues and concerns about Single Status please send by fax or in writing to:

Fax: 01473 584332