Last week Community’s Operations Director Helen Osgood and Head of Education Policy Martin Hodge gave evidence to the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body.
The evidence session focused on improving conditions of service for school leaders, with an emphasis on working time.
Reflecting on the evidence session, Martin Hodge said:
“At present school leaders are accountable for everything that happens in their school. There are no legal limits to the amount of time school leaders can be expected to work, which can also include weekends and during their holidays in an emergency.
“We don’t think it’s right that. We think that everybody is entitled to protected holiday and that nobody should be expected to be “on-call” 24/7. We are calling for a maximum working year for school leaders just like teachers and for all staff to be able to ‘disconnect’, and only be expected to respond to texts, calls and emails in their normal working hours, except real emergencies.”
“We hope that our evidence shared with the independent Welsh Pay Review Body last week will make a significant difference to the lives of school leaders working in Wales.”
Helen Osgood said:
“Existing guidance – which directs staff to work ‘reasonable additional hours’ to discharge their duties – causes significant problems. During the evidence session, we made the point that this framework needs to be tightened, as it leaves a loophole in place which risks school leaders and teaching staff being exploited. Teachers in Wales and across the UK deserve clarity and fairness.”
Community has formed a senior school leaders’ branch to specifically support and help those in leadership positions across nurseries, schools and colleges throughout the UK. This will include nursery managers, school business managers, SENCO/ALNCO, Head teachers, deputies and all senior leadership staff.
Our intention is that by bringing together staff with colleagues in similar positions, they can share the problems and solutions they have in their workplaces and ensure that there is a Community of help and no-one feels alone, because we know leadership can sometimes be a lonely place.
This branch will be an online branch, allowing people to connect from wherever they are and will be lead by Dr Morris Charlton, a former special school head teacher and experienced leader.
Leaders should look out for their invitation to join coming to their email inbox very soon!
Join the union for education and early years workers
From teachers, tutors and lecturers to the early years, nannies and teaching assistants, we represent and support people working in every role you can imagine in the education and early years sector.
Our dedicated education and early years team have the training and experience to help guide you through any challenges or issues you are facing at work.
© Community Trade Union 2026
Thank you. We have received your query
We have received your query and a member of our Service Centre Department will be in touch to discuss further with you.
Due to service demands it is not always possible for our advisors to reply to your query immediately. We aim to respond within 48 hours of receipt.
If your employer has invited you to a formal meeting (disciplinary, grievance or appeal) and you are seeking representation, if you have not already done so via this form, please provide us with all relevant supporting information including any notes/minutes from any investigation process and your email/letter of invitation, which should include full details of when and where the meeting is due to take place.
Please note that representation is not provided for investigation meetings.
If you have any further queries, please contact our Service Centre Department on 0800 389 6332 or at servicecentre@community-tu.org.
Not a member?
Let’s get to know each other.
"*" indicates required fields
"*" indicates required fields