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Human resources for schools

Managing human resources activities and people management in busy school environments.

Updated: 14th August 2024

Welcome to the website for Human Resources at Calderdale. We understand the importance of a flexible and personalised approach to people management, particularly in a busy school environment.

Our primary objective is to allow schools and academies focus on teaching and learning by alleviating the stress and time taken to manage HR activities.

Delivering a range of high quality, practical and cost effective practices, we have a wealth of experience in dealing with routine and complex staffing matters which senior leadership teams may be faced with.

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Services we offer include:

Advisory service

We offer an advisory service which helps you take an inspired attitude to people management, improve community reputation and improve staff morale, all for one fixed annual fee. Our experienced HR Advisors will work closely with your senior leadership team, supporting you in finding the best HR solutions to meet the needs of your school. We will work collaboratively to help you not only solve problems but where possible prevent them from occurring.

For a fixed annual fee you can access practical advice and support whenever you need it.

Advantages of our fixed fee service included:

  • Reduced risk of unplanned costs.
  • Accurate budget forecasting.
  • Full case management.

Our business partner approach enables:

  • Proactive early intervention/prevention.
  • The chance to ask questions and sound out ideas without limitation.
  • The chance to target and stay on top of concerns.

We advise on the full range of HR employment policies and law, which includes:

  • Disciplinary and grievance.
  • Performance management and appraisal.
  • Reorganisation, redundancies and organisational change.
  • Safer recruitment practices.
  • Consultation with trade unions.
  • Family friendly legislation.
  • Managing staff attendance.
  • Advice on moves to academy status.

We will support your school to effectively manage your workforce using a range of delivery methods.

We can provide:

  • Annual assessment of needs and accompanying action plan.
  • Phone, email and on-site advice.
  • Attendance at governor and resource meetings.
  • Support at staff hearings and appeals.
  • Attendance at cluster meetings to update and inform discussions across your network.

Our online resource site offers:

  • Model policies and procedures.
  • Manager guidance, FAQs and fact sheets.
  • Letter templates.

Please contact us for more information.

As well as HR Advisory Services, our Human Resources can also offer you help and support with:

  • HR Administration;
  • Pensions;
  • Payroll;
  • Recruitment;
  • Occupational Health;
  • and Workforce Development.

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We have developed strong working relationships with trade unions, pension schemes and other professional associations.

As part of the SLA you will be allocated a designated Principal HR Adviser to be your main point of contact

Key benefits

  • Provide evidence for impact assessments.
  • Ofsted preparation.
  • Working closely with other Council services including School Effectiveness Service and Safeguarding.
  • Regular updates and briefings at no extra costs.
  • We can identify areas of concern and tailor our advice to achieve shared objectives.
  • Independence from your school strengthens relationships and politics that can make people management difficult.

Contacts

Deborah Dunn:

Sarah Finnell:

Natalie Shaw, HR Advisory Team Leader:

Contracts and payroll

The Contracts and Payroll team offer an education specialist service tailored to meet your needs. Through comprehensive contract and payroll management we will reduce the administrative burden on your school through provision of an efficient and flexible service.

You will receive a personal service with customers having a named contracts and payroll specialist. We will manage your contracts and free you from the complexities of Tax and National Insurance calculations. We produce payslips and year-end reports, keeping you in line HMRC guidance ensuring that all contractual, statutory and voluntary payments and deductions are made in accordance with your terms and conditions.

Need our support?

Various service packaging options are available to purchase. To arrange a no obligation school visit to discuss your requirements, please contact our Business Team.

Our services include:

  • Preparation and issue of contractual documentation and Statement of Written Particulars.
  • Calculation of payment and deductions in light of contractual changes, new starters, leavers, overtime and expenses.
  • Guidance on pre-employment checks references, asylum and immigration.
  • Support determining pay.
  • Administer occupational and statutory leave and pay entitlements relating to sickness and parental absences.
  • BACS payment of salaries.
  • Production of payslips.
  • Bulk amendments to pay.
  • Payment of deductions to statutory and voluntary bodies, including income tax and National Insurance and pension contributions.
  • Completion and reconciliation of statutory year-end returns.
  • Application of HMRC's PAYE Employer's Guide.
  • Document retention.
  • Completion of the School Workforce Census.

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Contacts

The HR Contracts and Payroll Service is in Halifax Town Centre.

Human Resources:

  • Address: Halifax Town Hall, Crossley Street, Halifax. HX1 1UJ.

iTrent Helpdesk:

HR Contracts and Payroll Administrators

Victoria Bevan:

Tracey Broadbent:

Jodie Collinge:

Hamaira Khatoon:

Katie Metcalfe: 

Gillian Wright:

Nasar Ahmed:

HR Contracts and Payroll Management Team

Leigh Watters, HR Manager – Operations:

To enquire about school workforce census, please contact: hr.swc@calderdale.gov.uk.

Disclosure and barring service

We offer a Disclosure and Barring Service umbrella body service to schools and academies. Our dedicated team process in excess of 2000 checks per year. You can therefore be assured of a fast, reliable and professional service.

Advantages of our fixed fee service include:

  • Advice on the appropriate level of disclosure for your employees and support determining which employees require a check.
  • Process and obtain Standard and Enhanced checks with or without relevant Barred List(s).
  • Completion of External Validation where applicable.
  • Same day processing, when received before 12noon Friday.
  • Secure and fast online processing

How we do it:

  • Professional and efficient service.
  • No hidden charges.
  • No minimum usage.

Need our support?

Various service packaging options are available to purchase. To arrange a no obligation school visit to discuss your requirements, please contact our Business Team.

Occupational Health Service (OHS)

When an employee phones in sick, we know how difficult this can be. Lesson cover needs to be arranged, plans are often cancelled and there is concern for the welfare of the member of staff who is off. Our OHS is focused on providing a service that concentrates on reducing the risk of ill health as opposed to just seeing people once they are of sick and as such help you avoid the hassle associated with staff absence. We will work with your senior leadership team to proactively address health issues, offering confidential support and advice to enable your managers to meet their statutory duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of your employees.

Our Occupational Health Service uses a personalised, flexible approach to help you to find solutions that suit both you and your employee. Our guidance and support is practical, concise and objective.

We offer:

  • Pre-employment health assessments.
  • Vaccination programmes.
  • Absence management guidance and employee assessments.
  • Access to treatment such as counselling and physiotherapy.
  • Guidance and support on options when an employee is deemed unfit.
  • Advice on Display Screen Equipment and workstation assessment.

Counselling and Support Service

We can provide professional advice and support to school leaders to enhance and enable the management of health in the workplace.

We can signpost employees to a locally-based talking therapies provider and recommend locally-based counselling services who specialise in supporting employees who work in a school environment.

To accompany any support given to an employee we can provide managers with advice on how to support individuals who are experiencing a mental health illness.

We offer coordinated, solution-focused support in managing stress in the workplace, informing of situations and issues that can affect workplace health and the responsibilities of the employer.

Our team

  • A nurse-led Occupational Health Service.
  • An experienced Occupational Health Doctor.
  • Staff qualified to the highest standards.

Workplace, pre-recruitment and training

Workplace assessments and screening

We can offer you:

  • An audit to determine the risks to health arising within your workplace.
  • Health screening, arranging a programme to make sure employees are provided with, for example lung function tests, hearing tests.

Pre-recruitment assessments

In line with the Equality Act 2010, we can help you meet your legal obligations for pre-placement screening.

If, after initial assessment of the Declaration of Health form it is found that the candidate may have a health problem that warrants further investigation, the form is referred for the attention of Occupational Health. From here, Occupational Health will either:

  1. Determine that the candidate is fit for the role;
  2. or ask for more information from the candidate to determine their fitness for the role.

In all cases, the school will be informed as to the outcome of the assessment.

Health promotion and training

We have significant experience in delivering health promotion and training packages to both the public and private sector.

We can offer bespoke training programmes, small scale projects or general advice. The choice is yours!

Health assessments and treatment

Health assessments for those in work

Via the medical referral process, we will arrange to see an employee, carry out an assessment and provide a report that identifies:

  • If the employee is fit to do their role.
  • If adjustments are required to help them with their health.
  • If any treatment would help them with their health condition, such as physiotherapy or counselling.

Health assessments for those off sick

Via the medical referral process, we will arrange to see an employee, carry out an assessment and provide a report that identifies:

  • If the employee is fit to do their role and a return to work date.
  • If adjustments are needed to help the person in work.
  • If any treatment would help them with their health condition.
  • Where there is no likely return to work - what options the employer can consider.

We will continue to have contact (via reviews) with all employees until they are back at work or there is a satisfactory outcome with respect to the absence period. In the case of employees that require assessment for retirement on the grounds of ill health, we have access to an independent medical practitioner (Occupational Health Physician) to determine eligibility to access pensions on the grounds of ill health.

Private treatment

Unfortunately the services of the NHS are not always timely in terms of providing people with the support they require at the time that they need it. We have therefore commissioned providers for both physiotherapy and counselling to offer these services on our behalf.

In practical terms, an employee will normally be seen by Occupational Health and then a referral will be made to either counselling or physiotherapy. Any charges incurred when using a third party provider will be passed onto the customer.

Contact

If you are interested in any of the services we can provide and would like to know more about how our Occupational Health team can help your school please contact us.

Human Resources:

  • Address: Halifax Town Hall, Crossley Street, Halifax. HX1 1UJ.

Claire Horner, PG(dip)OH, SCPHN, RGN
Claire has worked in Occupational Health for five years and has many years experience in a variety of healthcare settings. She can provide support for staff who may be absent from work due to health issues or may be struggling with aspects of the role due to medical conditions. She will provide impartial and objective advice to both employer and employee, and offer advice about adjustments/support which may be appropriate.

Suraya Grice, Occupational Health administrator
Suraya has worked with the Occupational health service for many years. She is knowledgeable with all the administrative processes involved in the delivery of an efficient and effective Occupational health service to schools. She manages the appointment system for referrals, ensures that health assessment reports are received by the right people at the right time and collects key information to help manage the development of the service.

Pensions

The Pensions Service works in conjunction with the HR Administration and Payroll Services to provide comprehensive pension support to schools.

The team are experts in auto enrolment processes and will respond to member and scheme enquiries on your school's behalf.

The Pensions Service is able to deal with day to day matters concerning the administration of the pension schemes, plus complex year end returns.

The core pension services includes:

  • Process all scheme entries, leavers and changes.
  • Determine percentage bandings, deduct and pay over all contributions.
  • Process retirements and death in service.
  • Support occupational health pension issues.
  • Notify scheme of material changes.
  • Respond to requests from scheme administrators.
  • Notify scheme of instances of unpaid leave and maternity leave.
  • Apply all scheme regulations.
  • Produce and reconcile year end reports.
  • Produce and verify Teachers Annual Service Return.

These services are also available:

  • Academy conversion support, which includes conversion reports. (Such as TR6/TR8 for Teachers Pensions Scheme and TUPE Combined for West Yorkshire Pension Fund.
  • Creation of bespoke reports.

Contacts

The Pensions Service work from home and you can contact them via email.

Human Resources Pensions Team:

The Pension Team:

Denise Freeth (Pensions Advisor)

Diane Eastwood (Team Leader - Pensions)

Lesley Priestley (Human Resources Analyst)

Need our support?

Various service packaging options are available to purchase. To arrange a no obligation school visit to discuss your requirements, please contact our Business Team. Need our support?

Recruitment

What we offer

Specialising in school recruitment campaigns we can provide support and advice on all vacancies, including those for Headteachers and difficult to recruit to roles. We aim to reduce recruitment difficulties through increasing the efficiency of your recruitment campaigns.

We understand that all schools are different and therefore tailor our approach to suit you. This ensures each recruitment campaign results in you finding the right candidate that will fit in with your school's vision and ethos.

Topics we can offer advice and support on include:

  • Job descriptions, personal specifications and creation and publication of job packs.
  • Advertising packages, writing copy for targeted adverts.
  • Advice on promoting your organisation's profile in the jobs market  and creating an employer brand.
  • Evaluating appropriate salary grades for posts.
  • Employment legislation.

Working in partnership with your senior leadership team and governors we offer:

  • Management of an Employee Support Programme for employees whose posts are at risk of redundancy.
  • Advice about creating apprenticeship opportunities.
  • Support during a redeployment process.
  • Guidance on screening techniques, interview questions, shortlisting, reference taking, safeguarding and protected characteristics.
  • Attendance on interview panels.
  • Provision and evaluation of assessment centres for senior appointments.

By using our fully integrated recruitment website:

  • Your vacancies will be seen by a wide audience.
  • Administration time in school will be cut through online shortlisting and communications.

Recruiting staff is not a simple process and finding the best person for a job can be an expensive exercise. HR Recruitment understands this and has developed a range of recruitment and selection tools designed to assist you in the hiring of staff.

Contact

The Recruitment Service is currently based in Halifax Town Centre.

Recruitment team:

Workforce development

The Workforce Development service offers support across a range of learning and development activities, enhancing the quality and skills of your workforce and meeting the needs of Continuous Professional Development (CPD).

We promote the use of robust frameworks involving learning needs analysis, design and delivery of training solutions, evaluating impact and quality assurance.

We can also offer a range of professional development interventions.

These include:

  • Leadership and management development.
  • Customer service.
  • Managing change.
  • Team building.
  • Apprenticeship schemes.
  • Health and safety.
  • Diversity in the workplace.
  • Microsoft software.
  • First Aid at work.

We also have expertise in a number of specialist areas designed for people who work with children.

These include:

  • Early years foundation stage training.
  • Early intervention.
  • Targeted early years.
  • Children's centres and nurseries.
  • Working with disabled children.
  • Work with older children.

Our solutions include:

  • Coaching and mentoring.
  • E-learning.
  • Training courses.
  • Workshops and structured programmes.

We can offer both off the shelf and bespoke packages which will be designed to suit individual school needs and budgets.

Useful Links

Childcare providers support
More information and guidance on support for Childcare Providers can be found on the Calderdale web site, including funding and financial help, training, useful links and Early Years Foundation Stage.

Early intervention
In line with the overarching vision that all children in Calderdale are happy, safe and successful. The Early Intervention Support Strategy has put together a core training offer for all professionals working with children, young people and their families in Calderdale.

Help using iTrent

Contacts

New services:

All enquiries will be held in strict confidence.

Tell us your thoughts...

Your feedback is important to us, so please get in touch with any comments, ideas or suggestions for the HR Service or our website.

Ofsted benefits

We understand the requirements placed on schools/academies by the Department for Education and those from Local Authorities. Therefore, we work to make sure all your HR obligations are met.

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