Your National Terms and Conditions are found in the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (the STPCD or Blue Book), the Conditions of Service for Teachers in England and Wales (the Burgundy Book), and the NJC National Agreement on Pay and Conditions of Service (the Green Book, for Support Staff). These documents give statutory rights in maintained schools, and contractual rights in Academies and Free schools where they are incorporated into contracts of employment. If your potential new employer does NOT contractually incorporate the above Books, There may be the possibility that you will not be entitled to some of the national terms and conditions below.

It is important that everyone in education knows their contractual rights. Please see below essential information on some key statutory or contractual rights found within the Blue, Green and Burgundy Books:

Maternity Schemes
For Teachers and Support Staff with one year plus of continuous service, there is an option of receiving occupational maternity pay. There is also a right to return to your contractual job and role on returning to work after maternity leave. For more information, please read the relevant sections of the Green and Burgundy Books.

Sickness Schemes
For Teachers and Support Staff, there is a sliding scale of increasing entitlement to sick pay. Maximum entitlement is reached after four years’ aggregated service for Teachers, and five years’ service for Support Staff. For Support staff, this is six months full pay followed by six months half should that be needed. For Teachers, this is 100 School working days full pay followed by 100 School working days half pay should that be needed. For more information, please read the relevant sections of the Green and Burgundy Books.

Infectious Diseases
For Support Staff prevented from attending work due to contact with infectious disease, there is entitlement to normal pay, not sick pay (Green Book). Teachers who are absent with a reasonable probability that an infectious disease was contracted in work, are entitled to pay not reckoned against the sick pay scheme (Burgundy Book). In cases where there is risk of teachers becoming a vector for contagion of infectious disease, there are additional provisions. For more information, please read the relevant sections of the Green and Burgundy Books.

Injury sustained at work carrying out your duties
If you are injured at work carrying out your duties, this MUST be logged and recorded regardless of the cause (accident or violent incident) in the school accident book (physical or electronic). If you need time off work as a result, it should NOT be treated as 'ordinary' sick leave and pay, and if time off is needed for recovery, this could be up to six months full pay not affecting sick pay entitlement. (Green Book and Burgundy Book)

Teachers Covering lessons for absent colleagues (Rarely Cover)
This should only happen rarely, in unforeseen circumstances - STPCD 52.7. Teachers should be required to provide cover... only rarely, and only in circumstances that are not foreseeable (this does not apply to teachers who are employed wholly or mainly for the purpose of providing such cover).

Directed Time Limit for Teachers (on MPS and UPS, not Leadership scale)
STPCD 51.4 to 51.12 - 51.5. A teacher employed full-time must be available to perform such duties at such times and such places as may be specified by the headteacher (or, where the teacher is not assigned to any one school, by the employer or the headteacher of any school in which the teacher may be required to work) for 1265 hours, those hours to be allocated reasonably throughout those days in the school year on which the teacher is required to be available for work. The school year days are the 195 days per academic year including the 5 training days.