NASUWT advice and guidance on providing cover work when teachers are absent from school/college due to sickness
Teachers in England and Wales
Teachers in Scotland
It is recognised that the overwhelming majority of teachers will be off sick and need to take a period of sick leave at some time in their teaching career.
As such, the NASUWT is aware that there are a number of members who may have questions and queries about the situation in their workplace in respect of providing cover work when they are unable to attend work.
In light of this, we have produced this advice and guidance to ensure you are supported during this time.
Schools and colleges should have robust mechanisms in place to cover your absence if you are unable to attend work due to being off sick. This includes providing appropriate work for students, as well as cover for both short- and long-term absences.
Whilst you are unfit to work, the NASUWT maintains that any contact from your school/college should be reasonable. The frequency of any such contact and a suitable procedure should be mutually agreed. It is likely that this will depend on whether or not you are off as a result of either short- or long-term absence, as your employer may want to maintain regular contact with you if it is likely that you will be absent for a period in excess of two weeks.
Teachers in England and Wales
The School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) for teachers in England and the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions (Wales) Document (Wales) (STPC(W)D) for teachers in Wales do not specify what teachers are expected to do when they are absent from work.
The Burgundy Book is a contractual document that sets out and establishes a number of rights and entitlements for school teachers in England and Wales on a range of issues not covered by the STPCD or the STPC(W)D, including sick leave and pay.
In addition, you should read and make yourself aware of your school’s/college’s absence management policy for the procedures to follow when you are on sick leave. Your school/college is likely to have specific requirements for reporting absence, but this should be reasonable and not put undue pressure on you when you are feeling sick.
Depending on the absence management policy operated by your school/college, you are likely to be required to report your sickness absence as soon as reasonably practicable on the first day of your absence, often before the start of the normal school day or that specified in your school’s/college’s absence management policy. Unless you are too ill to do so, you should contact the school yourself.
As you are declaring yourself unfit to work, due to illness, there should be no expectation that you will undertake any of your normal duties whilst you are off sick, including planning and marking work or providing cover or setting work in your absence.
It should be noted that a proportion of any sick pay entitlement, including that under the provisions of the Burgundy Book referenced above, usually comprises of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), so attempts by your school/college to insist that you provide work whilst you are unfit to do so risks being seen as fraud in terms of any monies received by your school/college from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Schools and colleges should have robust mechanisms in place to cover your absence if you are unable to attend work due to being off sick, including providing prepared, appropriate work for students as well as cover for your absence, both in the short and long term.
Whilst you are unfit to work, the NASUWT maintains that you should not be contacted by your school/college without prior agreement, although this would depend on whether or not you are off as a result of either short- or long-term absence, as your employer may want to maintain reasonable, regular contact with you if it is likely that you will be absent for a period in excess of two weeks. The frequency of any such contact and a suitable procedure should be mutually agreed.
Planned absences
Elective surgery
In circumstances where you are having an operation performed which has been planned in advance, it may be seen as a reasonable expectation for you to plan and prepare cover work to be set in advance of your absence.
However, the amount of work you could be expected to plan and prepare should be reasonable and will depend on the length of your absence from work. Given that children and young people often work at different levels and abilities, it would be unreasonable for you to plan and set work if you require a sustained period of absence from your school/college to recuperate and recover, e.g. a period in excess of one week.
School/college trips
In situations where you are absent due to being on a school trip, the Union believes that it would be seen as a reasonable expectation for you to plan and prepare cover work to be set in advance of your absence.
As stated previously, the amount of work you could be expected to plan and prepare should be reasonable and will depend on the length of time you are away on the school/college trip.
For example, it may be unreasonable for you to plan and set work if you are away for a sustained period of time on a school/college trip, e.g. a period in excess of one week, particularly given that children and young people often work at different levels and abilities.
Other planned absences
For other situations where you know in advance that you will be absent, such as jury service or your child’s graduation, the Union believes that it would be seen as a reasonable expectation for you to plan and prepare cover work to be set in advance of your absence.
As stated previously, the amount of work you could be expected to plan and prepare should be reasonable and will depend on the length of time you are absent from work.
Teachers in Scotland
For teachers working in Scotland under the provisions of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT), absence cover is provided under the following conditions:
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immediately in the cases of advance notice absences of more than three days; and
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after three days in the case of unplanned absences.
These provisions establish the minimum provision and are without detriment to local agreements or arrangements in situations where matters relating to cover have been devolved to Local Negotiating Committees for Teachers (LNCTs) to reach an agreement.
Furthermore, under the relevant provisions of Appendix 1.3 of the SNCT, ‘other leave and absence arrangements’ are also devolved to LNCTs for local agreement.
This means arrangements surrounding planned absences such as jury service, funerals, weddings, etc. are negotiated at LNCT level and can vary between local authority employers. You can search for your local agreement on the SNCT LNCT Agreements web page.
Where local agreements are in place, these should have been subject to local consultation and agreement with the NASUWT.
Should you have any concerns, please contact the Scotland Office.
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