School Staffing Restructure and Redundancy

Schools continue to operate in a challenging financial and employment environment. Rising staffing costs, reduction in pupil numbers, funding pressures and increasing employment regulation mean that many headteachers/principals and governing bodies are having to consider difficult decisions about their future staffing requirements.

For some schools, this may mean reviewing the staffing establishment, changing roles and responsibilities, reducing hours or undertaking a staffing restructure. In more difficult financial circumstances, it may also mean considering teacher redundancies or wider support staff reductions.

These decisions are never easy. However, where a staffing restructure is necessary, careful forward planning is essential to ensure it is well planned, fair and legally compliant. A poorly managed restructure can have significant consequences for staff morale, school leadership time, educational provision and, potentially, costly Employment Tribunal claims.

The changing employment law landscape

The employment law landscape is changing significantly. The Employment Rights Act 2025, which followed the Employment Rights Bill, introduces a number of important changes which headteachers and governing bodies need to be aware of when undertaking a school staffing restructure.

One of the most significant forthcoming changes is the reduction in the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal claims. From 1 January 2027, the qualifying period is expected to reduce to six months. This means that schools will need to exercise particular care when making decisions affecting newer members of staff, including teachers who may have joined the school relatively recently.

Also from 1st January 2027, “Firing and Rehiring” where you are dismissing employees to force changes to core contractual terms and conditions will become an automatically unfair dismissal.

There are also enhanced protections relating to pregnancy and maternity. Existing redundancy protections for employees taking maternity leave, adoption leave and qualifying shared parental leave can extend beyond the period of leave itself. Further enhanced protections against dismissal during and following pregnancy and family leave are expected to be introduced during 2027.

For headteachers undertaking a staffing restructure, means that protected employees and employees returning from family leave must be identified at an early stage and appropriate legal advice should be obtained where necessary.

The time available for employees to bring many Employment Tribunal claims has also increased from three to six months from 1 October 2026, subject to the relevant rules and ACAS Early Conciliation requirements. This reinforces the importance of maintaining a clear audit trail showing how and why decisions were reached.

Key Considerations

How to plan for a school staffing restructure

Establish people to lead and oversee the restructuring process. The headteacher/principal is best placed to understand the school’s needs and priorities and will therefore play a key role in putting together the change proposals and leading on the restructure. The appointment of a project manager can also be useful to ensure key milestones are met – this is usually a Business Manager or senior support staff.

Ultimate responsibility for authorising a new staffing structure lies with the Governing Body/Trust Board, and so one of the first steps will involve ensuring decision-making powers have been delegated to the headteacher and an appropriate sub-committee of the Governing Body. Having a Restructure Committee will make it easier for decisions to be made and will ensure that governors with no involvement are available in the event of staff appeals or grievances.

The Restructure Committee will play a significant part in overseeing the restructuring process, which will include approving the change proposals, considering the outcomes of consultation and approving the school’s final proposals before implementation.

What is best for the school? Schools should take the opportunity to carry out a thorough review of their existing structure and to design a new structure that reflects what is best for the school in the long term, regardless of the individuals currently in post. Schools must be mindful of limitations posed by the budget, pay policy and conditions of service, but should think about their priorities:

• What are the broad objectives and principles the school is trying to achieve?
• Does the new structure align with the school’s future vision and future education requirements?
• Does it focus on teaching and learning and will teaching provision and outcomes for pupils improve?

Prepare a business case and action plan. The school’s business case should include details of the changes proposed: the school’s rationale, reasons and drivers for the change; and financial implications and any measures already taken. It should also give details of the numbers and type of staff to be affected, information about changes to job roles and job descriptions, and confirmation of whether any redundancies are proposed.

The business case should be sent to staff and trade unions with a proposed timetable, action plan and structure charts. The action plan should include the school’s consultation proposals and outline the school’s approach where redundancies are proposed including details about redundancy payments, voluntary severance terms, arrangements for salary safeguarding or pay protection and any support to be offered to redundant staff.

Be clear on costs. The costs associated with a restructure exercise can be substantial and so costing the revised structure will be an integral part of the process. The cost of statutory, enhanced redundancy payments, voluntary severance arrangements, pension capital costs for support staff 55 or over and payments in lieu of notice (if relevant) will also need to be included.

Costs can rise significantly where there are pension cost implications. Obtaining early advice is recommended to assess financial burden. Think about wellbeing. Any organisational change is likely to create a high level of anxiety for the whole staff team. It would be highly supportive to provide staff with different levels of wellbeing interventions, these could include group resilience coaching, change management support or individual counselling. Ensure these interventions are set up and can be provided at the point consultation begins.

Consider timings and ensure meaningful consultation. Sufficient time should be given to carry out the process fairly and reasonably, taking into account the extent of the proposed changes; whether redundancies are necessary; the number and categories of staff affected; statutory consultation periods (if they apply); and statutory and contractual notice periods.

Schools should engage formally in meaningful consultation with relevant trade unions/teacher associations and with all staff affected (including those not currently attending school due to maternity leave, sickness, secondment, etc).

Have a fair redundancy selection process. There are a number of elements to a fair selection process. This will include deciding on the correct ‘pools’ of staff for selection and ensuring that a range of selection criteria, which are objective and non-discriminatory, are applied by a suitably appointed selection panel. The selection criteria will usually be applied using a point or scoring system, via a selection matrix. It is important that no account is taken of any disability or pregnancy related absences.

Schools are strongly encouraged to take professional HR advice in relation to any proposed selection process, since it is often the redundancy selection exercise which is central to unfair dismissal and Equality Act claims following redundancy dismissals.

The HR Helpdesk is here to support as much as possible during this challenging time, please get in touch at hrpeople@oneeducation.co.uk for further support and guidan