Support staff: Job descriptions and evaluations

Guidance for support staff around job descriptions – their accuracy, and how to go about changing them if you need to.

Many support staff are working beyond the boundaries of their current job description and are therefore not being adequately paid for the extra work they are taking on. 

A recent survey of NEU members revealed that more than a third of support staff (35.6 per cent) feel their job description does not reflect the work they now carry out, and 5.1 per cent said that their job description was completely inaccurate.

Job descriptions

What is a job description?

A job description should detail the purpose, tasks and responsibilities of a particular job. The national agreement for support staff outlined in ‘School support staff – the way forward’ says that “every member of staff needs a comprehensive job description reviewed on a regular basis”.

Even for standard schools’ roles, such as teaching assistants, librarians, technicians and administrators, job descriptions can be amended to take account of any additional duties the post holder is expected to carry out. While a job description does not have the same legal standing, it should be provided to a new employee at the same time as the contract of employment. 

How can a job description be changed? 

Government guidance on the Workload Agreement states that headteachers should “consult with staff regarding changes to their job descriptions. Agreement (must be found) if there is a substantial change to a role.” 

If you wish to amend your job description to encompass changes to your role and responsibilities, you should firstly update it yourself, using the model job profiles for guidance. 

You should then talk informally to your line manager, to try to reach agreement on the revised job description. Should the informal approach not result in a satisfactory outcome, then you have recourse to the school or LA grievance procedure (whichever is applicable). 

Before embarking on a challenge to your existing job description or grading, it is a good idea to consult your NEU school rep. If you do not have a rep at your school, you can always seek advice from your local NEU branch.

Job evaluations

Job evaluation is the assessment of the relative worth of varied jobs within an organisation based on a consistent set of job and personal factors, such as skills, qualifications, experience and training required. 

LAs use one of two different job evaluation schemes, when undertaking a complete overhaul of their grading structures (as part of what is called single status), and for ongoing reviews of individual posts. 

The national local government single status job evaluation scheme has been developed jointly by the local government employees and unions and has been incorporated into the Green Book (Part 4). 

But increasingly popular with employers is the Greater London provincial council scheme (GLPC) which despite its parochial title is used by LAs in many parts of country when implementing single status. 

By using a job evaluation scheme such as GLPC, employers are able to ensure that jobs with vastly different characteristics can be assessed and remunerated on a fair and equitable basis.

FAQ

You must first ensure that your job description is accurate and up to date, and in particular, you should highlight any additions made to it since you started in the role. You should then share it with your line manager, with a view to agreeing its’ terms. If your manager says that any of the new items contained therein should be taken out, you will need to state that, if the manager is insistent, then they will need to reallocate those duties to another member of staff. N.B. a job description is just that - a description of the job in question. Management do not have the right to pick and choose which current duties are included in, or excluded from, your job description.

If no agreement can be reached with your line manager on the contents of your job description, then you have two options:

  1. To use the Grievance Procedure, to escalate the matter within the school
  2. To go directly to the locally agreed arrangements which should be in place for local grading appeals (Green Book Part 2, Paragraph 5.3 refers)

If your grievance is unsuccessful, this does not prevent you from appealing your grading via the locally-agreed arrangements.

If, however, your manager agrees with the contents of your revised job description, then they should ask the Head to consider an upgrading: The school does not have to submit your revised job description for a formal evaluation, if they deem it unnecessary and are prepared to upgrade you in line with your wishes.

It is important to stress that you are perfectly within your rights to request a grading review. The support staff national agreement states that “any additional responsibilities (taken on by support staff) need to be assessed against the grading system”. 

The Workload Agreement Monitoring Group (WAMG) guidance is even more emphatic: “It is incumbent on all schools to ensure that (support staff) roles and responsibilities (ie job descriptions) reflect the skills, training, expertise and experience of members of staff and that such attributes are reflected in appropriate pay and rewards and fair conditions of employment.” 

You and your colleagues should seek to pursue the matter informally at first, but if that proves unsuccessful, then you should consider submitting a group grievance, to be signed by all members involved.

Our support staff members in the independent sector and free schools may not be covered by the various national agreements and guidance mentioned above, but that does not mean to say that inaccurate job descriptions should be tolerated or pay anomalies should go unchallenged. The same approach to job descriptions should be adopted as in the maintained sector.

It is unlikely that your school uses a job evaluation scheme to work out the pay rates of its various employees. That should not prevent you from challenging your current grading through discussions with your line manager, and if necessary, via the school grievance procedure. Before starting on this course, you should seek guidance from your NEU school rep.

If you wish to have your job re-evaluated, please speak to your line manager and NEU representative in the first instance. If the initial approach does not work, you may wish to formally seek to resolve with assistance from NEU.

Payup 24 hero image

Support staff pay offer

Support members voted overwhelmingly (92% in England and 96% in Wales) to reject the offer.
NJC recognised unions Unison and Unite also rejected the offer.

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