Impact on PSA posts significantly reduced to under 12 across Highland

21st May 2019

There will be minimal impact on PSA posts due to extensive work done to protect staff through the holding back over 50 vacant posts and identifying other opportunities within the council.

We have committed to avoiding compulsory redundancies. PSAs will be given priority to move into new and vacant posts and they will be offered one to one discussions with an HR advisor if they wish, as well as access to a career coach and a guaranteed interview for relevant any post arising.

Only 1% of PSA staff are required to move into new roles - far fewer than originally expected.

There are currently over 1100 PSA members of staff and the Council identified 63FTE posts to be reduced from after the summer holidays. Over 50 of these have been achieved through deleting posts that are presently vacant and will be vacant by the end of term.

There are around 11FTE PSA staff to be supported into alternative employment with the Council. Just under 10FTE are in South Highland and under 2FTE in the North Highland area.

There may be some changes across a few schools where the needs of pupils have changed and PSA support will follow that need, but this is part of the normal allocations process and is not affected by the need to reduce the number of PSA posts.

Teacher training to support inclusive education has been developed and will be rolled out first to those schools affected by reductions in staffing to meet the needs of pupils. This will include training across all staff groups in schools in communication, nurture, resilience and autism, to support a more inclusive education system with an emphasis on staff wellbeing to relieve stress and reduce absence.

Following discussions with parents, a proposal was agreed at the beginning of May (9th May) as part of the Change Programme Fund, to allocate resource for Parent and Pupil Advocacy to ensure inclusion of the parent voice in the ASN redesign.

Budget Leader Cllr Alister Mackinnon said: "We have been working closely with staff, trade unions and interest groups as we are determined how best to meet the ASN allocation requirements. Now that we have reached our conclusion we will continue to work with affected staff in ensuring a smooth transition. We look forward to implementing our teacher training, as well as working alongside our parent and pupil advocates, once they are appointed, as work on the ASN redesign project progresses."