About the School Support Staff Negotiating Body

Background

New negotiating machinery for school support staff in maintained schools in England emerged as a result of the 2003 Workforce Agreement between government, employers and school workforce trade unions. This agreement was aimed at addressing teachers’ workload, the fact that the school support staff workforce had doubled since 1997 and that there had been an increase in the skills and responsibilities of these staff. 

The process continued with the 2005 Education White Paper: 'Higher Standards, Better Schools For All' whereby the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) decided that new negotiating machinery and a pay and conditions framework would be required as part of the reform agenda. This was announced by the previous Secretary of State to the Labour Party Conference in 2007. In September 2008, the DCSF provided an update on the changes.

All LG Employers and SSSNB joint circulars can be found at http://www.lge.gov.uk/lge/core/page.do?pageId=2898784

Structure

LG Employers provide the secretariat to the Employers' Side of the School Support Staff Negotiating Body - National Employers of School Support Staff (NESSS).

The SSSNB has 31 voting members:

• Employers' Side: Local Government Association (8 members)
• The Foundation and Aided Schools National Association (FASNA) (2 members)
• The Catholic Education Service for England & Wales (CESEW) (2 members) and the Church of England Education Services (2 members)
• Trade Union Side: UNISON (8 members); GMB (4 members) and UNITE (3 members)
• Non voting: DCSF and TDA

The Joint Secretariat is provided by the Office of Manpower Economics (OME). SSSNB has an Independent Chair, Philip Ashmore. The Chair's role is to:

• receive and manage delivery of the matters referred to the SSSNB by the Secretary of State
• chair meetings of the SSSNB
• facilitate formal and informal discussions between the parties, act as a conduit to the Secretary of State
• ensure that the SSSNB will have regard to government policy and considerations of the wider social partnership

The inaugural meeting of the SSSNB (while in non statutory form) took place on Tuesday 7 July at the OME. See SSSNB circular: School Support Staff Negotiating Body - 13 July 2009 (PDF,  1 page, 76KB)