Annual Kent Scheme Pay Award

Moderation for the 2019-2020 TCP cycle has been completed and the annual Kent Scheme pay award is now confirmed by the County Council. The recognised Trade Unions are currently balloting their members on the overall award.

Pay Scale Information for Schools

You will observe there has been a degree of grade progression for the Kent Scheme pay scales that will be in place from 1 April 2020. This is due to our commitment to at least match and manage the impact of paying the same entry salary as the NJC of £9.30 per hour, as well as to accommodate both the rising National Living wage to £8.72 and the Foundation (real) living wage to £9.30. We advise that Schools should look at their local flexibilities to accommodate any issues which may arise locally.

Some changes to the scale are detailed below:

• The Kent Scale pay bands have been increased by at least 1.8%
• KR2 and KR3 have been combined and increased into a single pay point of £9.35 per hour or £18,039 per annum. This represents a 3.9% increase to the bottom of the Kent Scheme pay bands.
• There continues to be a difference of at least £1,200 between the top of each successive grade.
• There is now a 0.5% pay gap between the top of one grade and the minimum of the next which helps make the distinction between grades clear.

Schools which follow Kent scheme are required to apply these increases and new grade bandings effective from 1 April. For other schools operating a September to August pay cycle, an appropriate Pay Policy needs to be in place.

Kent Academies which follow Kent Scheme conditions have discretion as to whether to apply these increases.

• View the Kent Scheme Pay Scale for 2020 to 2021 (PDF, 15.7 KB)
• View the Kent Scheme Apprentice Pay Scale for 2020 to 2021 (PDF, 186.2 KB).

Current School Allowances

The school allowances available to support staff have also been increased by 1.8%. Details of the new allowances can be found here (PDF, 57.2 KB).

Total Contribution Pay Assessment Rating Awards (TCP) for Kent Scheme Terms and Conditions

As in previous years Kent schools continue to be able to exercise local discretion regarding the percentage increases applied to each of the performance ratings where the Governing body has made provision within their pay policy to do so. Schools Finance leads that require information regarding percentage increases please contact your HR or Payroll provider.

For more information regarding the percentage increases applied in your own School please ask your Line Manager or Headteacher in the first instance.

It is recommended that TCP ratings are discussed with their Managers and use this opportunity to highlight what they did well, any areas that require development and to be clear what their objectives are for successful and what it looks like if they exceed that. More information about Managing and Supporting Performance can be found here including the Good Conversation tool (PDF, 183.5 KB) that will help frame discussions to support development, performance and wellbeing throughout the year.

HR Information and Guidance, including TCP Guidance and information on Kelsi

The HR information and Guidance stored on Kelsi has been reviewed and reorganised to make it easier to access information and guidance. The new pages have been designed to help with your HR queries regarding staff employed in Kent Maintained Schools and are available here for your reference.

If you require support or clarification regarding the TCP process, there are comprehensive guidance documents held on the Total Contribution Pay pages.

Assessments should be completed in good time to meet submission deadlines

Please ensure you have checked the communications from your HR/Payroll provider and their respective websites to ensure you complete your assessments in good time to be able to meet the submission deadlines set by your HR/Payroll provider.

TCP Assessment Eligibility

It is important that assessments are only submitted for employees who are eligible. If an employee is promoted, commences a secondment or an acting up arrangement after the TCP deadline has passed, they will no longer be eligible for the current TCP cycle. The employee will have a total contribution assessment in the following assessment period. A comprehensive guide to the TCP rules is available here (PDF, 254.9 KB).

Deferred assessments, what to do next

A reminder if a TCP assessment has been deferred, it is the responsibility of the both the Employee and Headteacher/Manager to ensure an assessment is submitted.

It is extremely important deferred assessments are completed in the month they are due to ensure employees do not miss on annual pay progression. Please be aware the assessment is back dated to 1st April/1st September depending on the pay cycle operating in the School.

Lump Sum Payments

We can now confirm that from April, following discussions with our recognised Trade Unions, eligible staff will be able to receive their TCP lump sum payment in 12 equal monthly instalments. The lump sum is available to colleagues at the top of their pay grade and is consistent with the percentage increases paid to staff not yet at the top of their grade.

Employees who wish to receive their lump sum payment in instalments, should discuss this with their Headteacher and the School should make arrangements with their payroll provider to ensure pay is calculated correctly. Please refer to the TCP Rules and Examples (PDF, 254.9 KB) for details.

Changes to Kent Scheme Annual Leave Provision

In addition to the Kent scheme pay award, the Kent Scheme annual leave arrangement have improved further. The new entitlement matrix is shown below. Staff on grade KR8 will move to the next level and receive an additional two days holiday. The Concessionary Day remains.

Annual leave entitlement from 1 April 2020

Term Time Only Annual Leave Arrangements

From 1 April 2020 KCC will be making adjustments to the Term Time Only annual leave arrangements. This will see the removal of the current matrix and the introduction of a formula calculation.