Teacher strikes: what happens when school staff strike?

A large number of regional and national strike days took place in 2023 as UK teaching unions fought for better pay for their members.

While the major unions in England accepted the DfE’s offer of a 6.5 per cent pay rise this summer, the threat of strike action is something schools could be faced with again in the future.

Here, we answer some of the big questions when it comes to teacher strikes.

Do schools close on teacher strike days?

In the face of strike action, the government’s guidance, Handling strike action in schools, makes it clear that schools are expected to stay open if possible.

“In the event of a strike, the Department for Education expects the headteacher to take all reasonable steps to keep the school open for as many pupils as possible,” it says.

What’s more, the government says schools that are forced to restrict places should prioritise the following groups:

• Vulnerable children and young people
• Children of critical workers
• Pupils due to take public examinations and other formal assessments
• Primary-aged pupils

This could be done by putting pupils together in single classes with any teachers that are working, similar to how some schools operated during lockdowns during the pandemic.

In a recent development, Tes has revealed that the DfE intends to go further and introduce a minimum service level in schools during strike action to ensure face-to-face provision for the priority groups.

However, schools that are unable to meet safe thresholds for cover or that don’t have enough senior staff on-site may well have to close.

What does this mean for teachers of exam classes?

If you are a teacher of Year 11 or 13 exam classes, you still have the right to strike.

Before the April and May 2023 strike action, the NEU offered guidance on what teachers of exam classes should do during the strikes.

It said that the timings of the strikes meant it was “appropriate to seek agreements with headteachers that permit exam-year students (Year 11 and 13) to attend school on strike days for revision activities or exam practice”.

The guidance said that the union would “support arrangements that provide the minimum level of teaching staff needed to allow Year 11 and 13 to attend school for supervised revision activities or exam practice”.

What this might look like in an individual school will vary depending upon the context of the setting, and it is down to union reps to come to agreement with school leaders. The April 2023 guidance said that there was “no expectation that classes will be taught by their ‘normal’ teacher on strike days”.

An example provided by the NEU said that teachers of exam classes may agree with their headteacher to “provide revision activities that could be delivered to those classes in their absence” or “attend school for part of the day to supervise a specific exam group”.

Will exams be affected by strikes in the future?

Although no teacher strikes are currently planned during public examinations, previous NEU guidance said that in the event of industrial action during public examinations, schools should “remain open for examinations and examination candidates where possible, even if the school is closed or restricting attendance”.

It also made the point that “the headteacher of a school or principal of an academy retains a formal role as ‘head of centre’ and is accountable for the conduct of the examinations and provision of facilities in their centre”.

What happens if Ofsted calls an inspection during a strike?

Ofsted inspections will go ahead if its inspectors judge that there is “sufficient activity taking place”.

In the event that inspectors judge there to be insufficient activity, the inspection is likely to be deferred.

What do teachers do on strike days?

Some teachers will be on picket lines or may join marches demonstrating for a better pay deal. These events will be coordinated by union representatives.

Otherwise, participating staff will essentially be free to do as they wish on the day and will not be expected to complete any duties related to their job, including marking work, contacting students or planning.

How are pay deductions calculated?

Any staff involved in a strike day will have one day’s pay deducted.

How a day’s pay is calculated is outlined in new government guidance. On page 17, it explains that “pay deductions should be made on the basis of 1/365th of their annual salary for each day of strike action”.

The amount that is deducted will depend on the staff member’s salary and whether they are part-time or full-time.

In an update to the guidance (made on 17 April 2023), a clarification on how part-time workers’ pay should be calculated says: “Deductions for part-time teachers should relate to the amount of work they were scheduled to do on the day of strike action.”

It is worth noting that as pay is reduced, so are national insurance and tax contributions.

Striking will also impact pension contributions and it should be noted that strike days do not count for “reckonable service purposes” within the Teachers’ Pension Scheme. Striking can also impact on redundancy payments if the loss of days for strike action reduces the number of full years of continuous employment.

For more details, check the Teachers’ Pensions website.

Will strike days count towards the maximum number of Early Career Teacher absence days?

For Early Career Teachers (ECTs), it is worth noting that their induction guidance says: “Induction arrangements state that ad hoc absences totalling 30 days or more per year of induction (or equivalent for part-time teachers) automatically extend the relevant year of induction by the aggregate number of days absent.”

Essentially, this means that if an ECT teacher has already taken absence during the year, and strike-action absence means their total absence equates to 30 days or more, then their ECT year will be extended.

Do all staff have to strike?

No, staff members who are not in a union or do not want to strike cannot be compelled to strike.

Can you strike if you’re not in a union?

Legally, you are entitled to join strike action if you do not belong to another union.

However, anyone who’s a member of another union that did not vote for strike action cannot join official strike action.

Can a person join or leave a union after strike action has been announced?

If a person wishes to join a union with a planned strike, this is possible up until the day before the strike is due to take place. In the case of the strike that took place on 1 February 2023, for example, that date was 31 January.

If a person wishes to leave a union, they can do so at any time. It is also possible to belong to two unions, or to belong to a union that has called a strike and decide to not take part in the strike action.

Can headteachers ask staff if they belong to a union or if they intend to strike?

Although a headteacher may ask staff if they belong to a union or if they intend to strike, there is no obligation on staff to share that information.

The DfE’s guidance says: “While employees are not required to tell their employers whether they intend to take strike action, employers are able to ask staff in advance if they intend to strike.”

If the school has a union representative, then the representative will meet with the headteacher and discuss the situation.

Can a teacher be asked to cover for striking colleagues?

Although a headteacher is allowed to ask their non-striking staff to cover for their absent colleagues, the government guidance makes it clear that these staff cannot be “compelled” to do so.

It says: “Headteachers may ask other teachers to cover the classes of those taking industrial action. Where teachers are employed under the School teachers’ pay and conditions document, however, they cannot be compelled to provide cover for other teachers during industrial action.”

However, members of staff who are employed to provide cover (for example, cover supervisors) can be directed to cover for their striking colleagues.

Can support staff cover lessons?

As part of the NEU’s 2023 strike action, school support staff who were members of the union took part in a strike ballot, but the turnout for this vote was below the legal minimum threshold. As a result, support staff were expected to be in their school if it was open so that they could be an option for cover.

However, asking support staff to cover teacher roles is complicated.

For maintained schools, there is a legal requirement that lessons are taught by someone with qualified teacher status (QTS), meaning most support staff will not be eligible to do this.

However, these schools can use support staff to provide “cover supervision or oversee alternative activities”, according to government guidance.

Support staff can also carry out “specified work”, provided they are subject to the “direction and supervision of a qualified teacher, and the headteacher is satisfied that they have the skills required to carry out the work”.

However, free schools, academies established after 29 July 2012 and any academy established prior to this date that has agreed a change to their funding agreement are exempt from this, so can use support staff for lesson cover if required.

Can schools use agency staff to cover striking teachers?

Yes. Owing to a change in legislation last summer, schools and trusts are legally entitled to bring in temporary agency staff to provide cover, which was not permitted before.

This is despite an ongoing legal challenge to the legislation brought by unions.

Polly O’Malley, partner and employment law expert at law firm Stone King, says: “The legislative change that was brought in [in July 2022] allowing schools to legally bring in temporary agency staff to provide cover during strike action will still stand for any teacher strikes occurring over the next few months, despite the unions pursuing legal action.”

She notes, though, that schools should not consider this an easy route out of the disruption that strikes will cause because there are nowhere near the numbers of agency staff needed relative to strike impact.

“There are limited numbers of agency workers and already a high reliance on agency staff across schools,” she says.

“These workers can, of course, be selective about where they accept an assignment and may not wish to cross a picket line. Schools will also need to consider the budget implications of bringing in agency workers.”

Can schools use volunteers to help?

Government guidance says that schools can use “existing members of the school volunteer workforce” who have relevant Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks to provide supervision.

The guidance also says schools could seek out new volunteers but they would have to work alongside staff or a volunteer with a DBS check if they had no suitable DBS check themselves.

Although this can help schools, Sarah Linden, partner at law firm Browne Jacobson, says schools must remember that the “importance of safeguarding children remains paramount” and should not let standards slip in this area.

“You’re not going to get an out from safer recruitment procedures, so if you are going to use someone who is not DBS checked, the usual applies like conducting a risk assessment, having them supervised by someone who is DBS cleared, and not allowing them to ever be alone with children,” she tells Tes.

“We can’t let someone into school just because we’re trying to keep it open and then they perpetrate abuse against children or harm children.”

Can schools negotiate with unions on who is included in strikes?

The government guidance says this is possible, suggesting that schools could look to agree with unions to hold back certain staff from strikes, such as “road safety officers, school crossing patrols and employees in residential special schools”.

It also says schools could negotiate around staff who would suffer “long-term financial loss” from taking part in strikes, such as:

• Staff members in their last year of service when they are in the pension scheme
• Pregnant women who have notified their employer of maternity leave dates
• Employees whose state benefits may be affected if they take part in strike action

What happens if the headteacher goes on strike?

Although the NAHT school leaders’ union did not meet the minimum turnout threshold in its ballot for strike action in 2023, some headteachers who are members of the NEU were eligible to strike.

In this situation, the government guidance says that any leader should delegate their responsibilities to another member of the leadership team.

If all senior staff are on strike, the government proposes that the governing body or academy trust asks “another staff member to carry out the headteacher’s duties - for example, a senior teacher or a retired headteacher employed by the school”.

Realistically, though, similar to how there is no guarantee of agency staff being in such supply that they can cover striking teachers, finding other heads, such as recently retired heads, may be a tall order for schools.

However, multi-academy trusts will have more staff to draw on, potentially from across geographical regions, and so may have more luck finding current staff who can be parachuted in for a day’s cover.

What do non-striking members of staff do if their school is closed?

If a member of staff is not taking part in the strikes but their school is closed, then that staff member must still turn up for work as usual and undertake duties as directed by their headteacher.

What about remote education?

Although schools may not be able to provide in-school teaching in certain scenarios, staff not on strike may be asked to provide remote education, with the government telling schools to be aware of its existing guidance in this area.

This is something that may be more prevalent now than during pre-Covid strike action because of how widespread remote education became during the pandemic.

What about free school meals pupils?

The government has said that where pupils are eligible for free school meals, schools should “work with their school catering team or food provider to ensure that a good-quality lunch parcel is made available”.

If strikes result in a pay rise, will it apply to all teachers?

If a new pay deal is renegotiated by the unions, then everybody will receive the pay uplift, regardless of who took part in the strike action.

What happens to staff members absent due to parental or maternity leave on the strike day?

If a member of staff who wishes to strike is on maternity, paternity or shared parental leave and wishes to still take part in the strike action, they should notify their headteacher.