Government responds to consultation on School Support Staff Negotiating Body

What is the SSSNB?

The government plans to establish the SSSNB as a statutory mechanism for negotiating pay and terms and conditions for school support staff in maintained schools and academies in England. It believes that a dedicated body will enable more tailored negotiations and help ensure support staff receive fair remuneration for their contribution within schools. 

The Secretary of State for Education will have the power to make regulations that incorporate agreements reached through the SSSNB process into employees' contracts of employment. 

Alongside its negotiating role, the SSSNB will make recommendations to inform statutory guidance on training and career progression for support staff roles. Employers will be required to have regard to any such guidance issued. 

The consultation

The consultation (which we previously discussed here) sought views on:

• how to define school support staff and determine which roles should fall within the scope of the SSSNB

• current pay and conditions for school support staff; and 

• whether agency workers carrying out support staff roles in schools should fall within the scope of the SSSNB.

Now that the government has published its response, we examine its position on each of these issues.  

1. Definition of ‘school support staff’

The Employment Rights Act 2025 broadly defines ‘school support staff’ as someone who: 

• is not a teacher

• is employed by a local authority, maintained school governing body or an academy proprietor in England; and 

• works wholly at one or more maintained schools or academies. 

The government consulted on proposals to: 

• exclude employees whose pay and/or conditions are negotiated through certain pay review or negotiating bodies (other than the National Joint Council for Local Government Services (NJC))

• include academy trust employees in support staff roles who work from locations other than academies; and

• exclude academy trust executive leaders, regardless of where they work

The government has confirmed that it will proceed with these changes. It has also confirmed that senior non-teaching staff with strategic responsibilities in maintained schools and academies will be excluded from the definition. 

2. Current pay and conditions of school support staff

The government sought evidence on existing pay and conditions arrangements to support the transition to the SSSNB.

Most employers who responded said they use the NJC ‘Green Book’ as a benchmark and pay support staff according to the NJC pay spine. They also reported relying on job evaluation schemes, benchmarking exercises and role profiles when setting pay, while balancing budget constraints and historic TUPE arrangements. 

Many employees expressed concerns about protecting existing entitlements, such as leave and sick pay. They also wanted greater transparency around grading, working hours, breaks, holiday and opportunities for progression. In addition, employees highlighted the importance of retaining flexible working arrangements, such as part-time and term-time only contracts, and ensuring pay accurately reflects their roles and responsibilities.  

In response, the government confirmed that the SSSNB will establish minimum statutory terms and conditions. This means that:  

• staff whose current terms are more favourable than the statutory minimum set by the SSSNB will retain those enhanced terms

• staff whose terms fall below SSSNB minimums will receive an uplift to the statutory minimum; and

• employers will remain free to offer terms that exceed the statutory minimums where appropriate

The government says this approach will protect employees while allowing employers the flexibility they need to respond to local labour market conditions and operational challenges.

3. Use of agency workers in schools

The consultation also sought evidence on the use of agency workers in schools and whether future legislation should bring agency workers within the scope of the SSSNB. 

However, agency workers and employment agencies provided limited evidence to the consultation. From those that did respond, views on including agency workers were mixed, and trade unions were the only type of organisation that clearly supported their inclusion.

As a result, the government has concluded that the current evidence base is insufficient to justify extending the SSSNB to agency workers at this stage. However, during the SSSNB's first year of operation, the Department for Education (DfE) will work with SSSNB member organisations to review the evidence and consider the position of agency workers further.

Next steps

The government intends to introduce regulations in autumn 2026 to establish the SSSNB and to update the definition of which staff fall within, or outside, its scope, as set out above. The government also plans to publish non-statutory guidance to help employers to consistently identify staff that will benefit from these new arrangements. 

The government intends to introduce the new system through a planned transition. Staff will remain on their existing arrangements for the 2026-2027 financial year. Pay and conditions agreed through the SSSNB are expected to take effect from the 2027/28 financial year at the earliest. 

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