Teachers not confident about supporting trans pupils
A survey of 7,000 teachers undertaken by the BBC has revealed their experience of dealing with transgender pupils. About 8% of primary school teachers said they taught trans or non-binary pupils, compared with 75% in secondary schools. Just over half said they would not be very confident or at all confident about what steps to take if a child wanted to change their name, use different pronouns, or change their appearance, hairstyle, or clothes - what is known as socially transitioning.
The government has said that it will publish official guidance to help schools and colleges navigate this issue, later this term.
Health and safety executive urged to investigate teacher suicide
Experts are calling on the UK’s health and safety watchdog to investigate cases of teacher suicides and launch an immediate inquiry into work-related stress in the education sector.
In addition, the BMJ (a medical research journal) is urging the education select committee’s MPs to conduct a separate investigation into the impact of Ofsted on the welfare of teaching staff. According to the authors, teachers face immense pressure at work, as evidenced by the Teacher Wellbeing Index’s findings that 75% of education staff experienced stress in 2022. Although mental health problems have many causes, the authors argue that concerns about Ofsted’s impact clearly contribute to the high level of stress among teachers.
National standard for workplace menopause support published
A new standard to help employers manage menopause and menstrual health and retain women for longer has been published by the British Standards Institute.
The national technical standards body has produced the menstruation, menstrual health, and menopause in the workplace standard (BS30416) with input from major employers including Morrisons and BT, as well as unions, health and safety bodies and charities. It gives examples of best practice and provides recommendations for workplace policies, work design, workplace culture and the physical environment.
New laws protecting parents and carers receive Royal Assent
Parents and carers will soon benefit from the following new protections:
- Up to 12 weeks of paid neonatal care leave for employed parents whose children need to go into hospital, so that they can spend more time with their baby at what is a hugely stressful time. This is in addition to other leave and pay entitlements such as maternity and paternity leave.
- Redundancy protection for pregnant women and new parents with the extension of existing redundancy protections to cover pregnancy and a period of time after parents on family related leave return to work.
- A new entitlement for unpaid carers to a week of flexible unpaid leave a year who are caring for a dependant with a long-term care needs. This will help carers to balance their caring and work responsibilities, and support them to remain in employment.
The government will have to introduce secondary legislation to bring these new laws into force. We’ll keep you informed about its progress on this.
ICO publishes new guidance to help employers deal with subject access requests
The Information Commissioner’s Office has published new guidance to help employers respond to subject access requests. It answers a series of questions and provides examples to help organisations understand what they need to do to comply with the law.
Acas publishes advice for employers on managing stress at work
Acas has published new advice for employers on managing stress at work after YouGov revealed 33% of British workers disagreed that their organisation was effective at managing work-related stress.
New guidance for employers to help support staff experiencing fertility difficulties
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has published a guide to help employers support staff who are having difficulty conceiving. As well as providing tips on how to provide appropriate support, it draws on data from two 2022 surveys which found that:
- Almost one-in-five employees said they had considered leaving their job because of their experience at work in relation to fertility challenges, investigation, or treatment.
- Almost half didn’t tell their manager either because they were concerned about the possible impact on their career, or because of concerns that their employer wouldn’t understand or offer support.
- Almost half of employers provide some kind of support for employees undergoing fertility treatment, with flexible working to enable employees to attend medical appointments being the most common support offered. But, surprisingly, over half of employers offering support hadn’t told their staff about it!
On the same theme, Pregnant Then Screwed has published a press release which reveals the unfair treatment women face in the workplace due to their reproductive health. According to its research:
- 43% of women who informed their employer of their fertility treatment, one-in-four did not receive any support from their employer.
- One-in-four women also experienced unfair treatment because of undergoing fertility treatment.
- 22% of women who disclosed their pregnancy loss to their employer felt that they were unfairly treated as a result, and 6% of partners who disclosed the same faced negative treatment.
Government asked to introduce an Employment Bill to address gaps in protection
A House of Commons Committee report says the government must reconsider the need for an Employment Bill in the upcoming King’s Speech to address gaps in employment protections.
The government has two months to respond to the committee’s proposals.
Read more – June 2023
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