Everyone’s Invited: Ofsted’s report on its review into sexual harassment and sexual violence
The Everyone’s Invited movement has brought to light the widespread trivialising and normalising of peer on peer sexual harassment and…
Independent schools
Teachers’ Pensions Scheme – the latest developments
As daily school life returns ever closer to normal, a continuing key focus for school governors and senior leadership teams…
Belief that biological sex is immutable is protected under the Equality Act
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that a belief that biological sex is immutable is protected as a philosophical belief…
Staff Accommodation – have you updated since the April 2021 change?
On 6 April 2021, HMRC withdrew the “representative occupier” exemption for the tax treatment of staff accommodation. Previously this had…
Teacher Assessed Grades: Preparing for results day and grade appeals
Having completed the process of submitting their Teacher Assessed Grades (TAGs) for the 2021 summer exams, schools are now waiting…
Webinar: Everyone’s Invited: peer-on-peer abuse
The Everyone’s Invited movement is but the latest spotlight to fall on safeguarding in schools.
The list of allegations seems…
Schools – the extended furlough scheme
The furlough scheme is helping a large number of schools to reduce their overheads at a time when their revenue…
Legal update for independent schools – Spring issue
We are pleased to bring you our Spring Update for independent schools which covers key recent legal developments in the…
Keeping children safe in education – January 2021 update
To reflect the end of the Brexit transition period, the Government has updated Keeping Children Safe in Education. The relevant…
Parent contract – time for an update?
The closure of schools due to Covid-19 has been an unprecedented challenge. In addition to the difficulties associated with remote…
Back to school after lockdown 3 – Q&A
The news that pupils would be returning to school on 8 March threw up lots of questions and concerns from…
Unqualified prep-school teacher succeeds in claims for unfair dismissal and age discrimination and is awarded over £140,000 – Sue Allington v Grange Rose Hill School Limited (the School)
The School, an independent co-ed prep school for children aged 3-13 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent dismissed Sue Allington, aged 60,…
Teachers’ pensions – a continuing issue
The last 12 months have been some of the hardest the independent schools sector has had to face. Attention has…
Teacher-assessed grades this summer
For the second year running, responsibility falls on teachers to award exam grades to their students. After the fiasco of…
Webinar: Independent schools – Strategic planning for the challenges of 2021
After one of the most challenging years in recent memory, strategic planning for the year to come has never been…
Dismissal of teacher with child images on home computer was unfair says Employment Appeal Tribunal
In the recent case of K v L UKEATS/0014/18/JW the Claimant was a teacher charged by the police with possession…
New Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020: an extension of support and relaxing of rules for schools
Schools have not been isolated from the financial and social effect of the pandemic. In many cases, they are seeing…
Centre Assessed Grades: it’s not too soon to start thinking about next summer’s exams
One of the many additional challenges presented to schools as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic was the requirement for…
The Government’s crackdown on furlough fraud
When schools were forced to close in March, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many schools chose to make use of…
Difficult decisions in difficult times: how should schools approach managing redundancies?
The last seven months have been some of the hardest ever faced by the independent schools sector. Whilst the Government’s Job…
The Job Support Scheme – how does it work and can schools benefit from it?
The Government has been under increasing pressure to extend the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme which will cease providing support to…
Teachers’ pensions: returning to the fray
Whilst most of the attention recently has understandably been on the COVID-19 crisis, the past few months have seen a…
Updated COVID-19 toolkit for independent schools
In March we produced our toolkit to help independent schools manage the unprecedented challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. As…
Keeping children safe in education – new changes for September
The Government has just released the updated version of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE), which will come into force…
Helen Harvie
Independent schools
Charities
I am a charity law specialist and I act as both trustee and advisor to a wide…
Olivia Stanton
School employment law
Teacher’s pensions
I am a solicitor in the independent schools and charities team and I specialise in…
Adam McRae-Taylor
Employment in schools
Employment tribunal litigation
I specialise in employment and education law and advise on issues such as unfair…
Esther Millard
Professional negligence
Debt recovery
I specialise in handling professional negligence claims on behalf of both businesses and individuals. I have…
Gordon Reid
Charity law
I lead the charities team. I work with charities and independent schools of all shapes and sizes, advising…
George Shepherd
I am a solicitor in the Schools & Charities team, specialising in governance and transactional work for independent schools and…
Joanna Lada-Walicki
Education employment
Safeguarding
I head the firm’s independent schools and charities practice and I specialise in education and employment law.…
Charlie Ellison
I am a trainee solicitor in the Schools and Charities team based in our Guildford office. I primarily support other…
Ben Collingwood
Independent schools
Safeguarding
Charities
I specialise in advising independent schools and other charities on wide ranging areas of education law,…
Immigration for schools update: sponsored students affected by Coronavirus
The Home Office has released updated guidance to deal with individuals affected by travel restrictions associated with coronavirus (COVID-19).
Tier…
Coronavirus (COVID-19) toolkit for independent schools
In these unprecedented times, independent schools are under unprecedented financial pressure. Schools are closed; parents are asking about refunds; staff…
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) – An update
Conclusion of Phase 1 of the residential schools investigation
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was set up…
New guidance on confidentiality clauses in settlement agreements from the Equality and Human Rights Commission
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has this month issued guidance on the use of confidentiality clauses in settlement agreements.…
Improper behaviour can lead to section 111A negotiations being admissible in Court
In the case of Harrison v Aryman Limited, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“the EAT”) has recently decided that a pre-termination negotiation…
Vegetarianism is not a Protected Characteristic
The Employment Tribunal (“the ET”) has recently handed down judgment in the case of Conisbee v Crossley that vegetarianism is not a…
Preventing Charity fraud – new Charity Commission guidance
The Charity Commission has recently issues important new guidance on preventing charity fraud which should be incorporated by all schools…
Immigration update – How Brexit will affect schools sponsoring international students
In this article we look at the recent developments affecting schools sponsoring international students, and discuss some of the anticipated…
Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) Update – recent developments
The past few months have seen a number of developments regarding the on-going impact of increases in employer contributions to…
No pro-rating of holiday pay for term-time only teachers on permanent contracts
The recent case of Harpur Trust v Brazel witnessed the Court of Appeal attempting to clarify the complex issue of holiday pay…
Autumn 2019 Legal Update for Schools
Welcome to the November 2019 Schools Legal Update. We hope that you will find this informative and useful in keeping…
SEN exclusions – the Tribunal’s power to revoke discriminatory exclusions
Last year we reported on the case of C and C –v- Governing Body of a School and Others which changed the…
Does suspension breach the implied term of trust and confidence?
In London Borough of Lambeth v Agoreyo the Court of Appeal recently considered the circumstances in which an employee may be…
Department for Education publishes draft Relationships and Sex Education statutory guidance
The Government has recently conducted a consultation on Relationships and Sex Education in schools in England and produced new draft…
Fee fraud – what can schools do?
“Invoice fraud”, “mandate fraud”, “transfer fraud”: this particular scam has acquired many names over the years and now fraudsters are known to…
Spring 2019 Update for Schools
Welcome to the March 2019 Schools Update. We hope that you will find this informative and useful in keeping you…
Can a direct discrimination claim be based on the employer’s religion or belief?
In Gan Menachem Hendon Limited v De Groen the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered whether an employee could bring a claim for…
What counts as ‘long term’ in determining if an employee has a disability?
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has recently considered the meaning of “long term” and “substantial” when assessing whether a person is disabled for the…
TPS contributions set to rise by 43% – what’s your strategy?
With employer contributions set to rise by 43% in September 2019, many schools are reviewing the viability of continued membership…
GDPR and safeguarding in schools: what you need to know
The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which came into force on the 25 May, needs no introduction. You probably know…
National minimum wage – don’t panic!
John Lewis has suffered very public criticism in relation to alleged payment of some of its seasonal workers below National…
Salary sacrifice school fees – last chance saloon!
Hitherto, independent schools have been able to offer staff the opportunity to save some of the cost of the school…