Dear Headteacher
Thank you for signing up to the Pay and Recruitment Service Level Agreement for 2019/20.
This welcome pack sets out the process and service we offer, as well as some easy to read guidance that will hopefully ensure you experience a smooth process in finding the right candidates for your school.
The Recruitment and Resourcing Team has recently been reconfigured to provide a dedicated school recruitment team for 2019/20.
Whilst we don’t have sufficient resources to allocate a member of staff to each school the team will endeavour to provide a responsive service during Council office hours.
May I ask that you contact the team using the details below rather than via the resourcing email which is now reserved for corporate recruitment purposes only.
School Recruitment Team
School.recruitment@halton.gov.uk
0151 511 8799
Pay & Pensions Team
0151 511 6799
School Members Area
May I take this opportunity to remind you that as part of the SLA you are provided with access to a complete package of guidance, accessible from the School Members Area on school microsite.
The password is: Sch00ls7LA.
Within this area you will find guidance, forms and template letters.
If you cannot find what you’re looking for or want to talk through any issues, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the team.
Kind Regards
Sarah Gurrell
Efficiency, Resourcing and Recruitment
What’s New for 2019/20
Notification of Conditional Offers
Following some feedback from Business Managers, we have revised our Notification of Conditional Offer Form. The form now incorporates a checklist of documents that must be returned with it.
The Recruitment and Resourcing Team will not act upon a NOCO received on its own. It must be emailed to school.recruitment@halton.gov.uk accompanied with the Application Form and Interview Notes, applicant email address, proof of address, proof of eligibility to work in the UK and Teacher reference number / proof of QTS, where applicable.
As a reminder, this form needs to come from a Headteacher’s email account unless we have received notification from the school, ratified by the Governing Body, that this responsibility has been delegated to an appropriate member of staff.
A copy of the revised NOCO is attached for your reference, however in future a pre-populated version of this will be issued to you on receipt of a Request to Advertise a Vacancy Form and as such copies of the new form will not be available to download. (See Reference Numbers and Vacancy Tracking below).
Please ensure any old version of the form are discarded.
Pay 2 Forms
As of 1st April 2019, we will no longer use or accept PAY 2 Forms. The Pay 2 Form will be replaced by the following forms;
- A Notification of Extension to Contract For Temporary or Fixed Term Employees
- Notification of Contract Hours / Weeks Change
- Retain a Leaver as a Casual Worker
Please note these forms should not be used to replace any recruitment and selection process.
Most changes to contract should stem from a recruitment or restructuring process and the appropriate processes should be followed in such instances to ensure that you and your school are not subject to challenge.
Guidance on a range of resourcing scenarios can be found in the School Members Area, however if you’re not sure whether these apply to your own circumstances then please contact the School Recruitment team for advice.
If your circumstances are one which requires recruitment, then we appreciate that you may not always want, or need, to advertise externally and internal recruitment may therefore be an appropriate solution. What we do ask, is that a Request to Advertise a Vacancy Form is completed and sent to school.recruitment@halton.gov.uk as this will assist us in scheduling the work and being able to deal with it in the most efficient way.
Reference Numbers and Vacancy Tracking
In order to assist us in dealing with what can sometimes be high volumes of recruitment, each vacancy will now be allocated a reference number at the point from which a Request to Advertise a Vacancy Form is received.
This reference number will be used in all correspondence, including any adverts placed on the school vacancy pages, and should be used on all forms relating the recruitment.
On receipt of a Request to Advertise a Vacancy Form a Recruitment and Resourcing Officer will provide you with a Notification of Conditional Offer (NOCO) Form, pre-populated with the relevant information from the Request to Advertise a Vacancy Form.
It is therefore essential that for any recruitment you carry out, even that internal to the school, a Request to Advertise a Vacancy Form is completed.
Only NOCOs that have been pre-populated by School Recruitment and allocated a reference number will be accepted.
Recruitment Planning
The average time to fill a vacancy in the UK is just over 7 weeks. In an education environment where you are working to pre-set deadlines for existing staff to tender their notice, planning your recruitment as early as possible is essential.
In addition to timescales, you are also working in a competitive labour market where other schools are also seeking to recruit at similar times. Ensuring your recruitment campaign is well planned, targeted and showcasing your school in the best possible way, may give you the competitive edge.
Throughout the academic year we will be sending a number of mail shots to provide recruitment planning advice and guidance and help you to keep your recruitment on track.
We recognise that recruitment for September starters can be a time consuming and busy process for all involved, but that it’s also crucial that you get the right people for your school. The School Recruitment Team are currently working with colleagues in Marketing to develop social media campaign to support September recruitment. This will be accompanied by a project plan of activity to help schools keep on track with meeting the requirements set out in the SLA for September start dates.
You will recall that as part of the new service level agreement you are required to provide details of appointment to the School Recruitment Team by 1st July 2019.
Loading Vacancies
Vacancies will be loaded within 5 working days of receiving the correct information. Please ensure all correct and relevant information is provided on the Request to Advertise a Vacancy Form rather than in separate emails.
Once your advert is live you will be contacted by a Recruitment and Resourcing Officer.
We recommend that you allow 3 weeks advertising time as this will allow sufficient time for external advertising, school visits etc.
Prohibition Checks
As a reminder, carrying out Prohibited Teacher Checks as part of pre-employment checks no longer forms part of the Recruitment, Contracts and Pay Service Level Agreement and should now be carried out by schools.
The attached link provides further details on the responsibility of schools in respect of such checks.
These checks should form part of the school’s Single Central Record.
Guidance
Some of the existing recruitment guidance has been updated to reflect changes to the processes for the 2019/20 SLA year. In addition, a range of new guides have also been added and include ‘Discrimination in Recruitment’, ‘Writing Effective Adverts’ and ‘Writing Interview Questions’. These can be found in the School Members Area.