Terms of Engagement for Teachers

(Contract for Services)

1. DEFINITIONS AND INTERPRETATION

1.1. In these Terms the following definitions apply:

“Rate of Pay” refers to the teacher’s own, designated, chosen daily rate of pay. All teachers are able to use the Teacher Direct platform to set their own daily rate of pay for their teaching services. Teachers are able to set out their own rate of pay and use the Teacher Direct Platform to set their own rate as self-employed teachers.

“Transaction fee” refers to the fee for using the Teacher Direct platform to receive work with schools that recruit using the platform. The transaction fee is fixed at £10 per day and is paid by the school on booking a teacher’s services.

“Teacher ”means the individual who makes themselves available to be hired using the platform.

“Assignment” means assignment services to be performed by the teacher for the school, for the period of time that they are booked, under the supervision and direction of the school.

“Confidential Information” means any and all confidential commercial, financial, marketing, technical or other information or data of whatever nature relating to the Hirer or Employment Business or their business or affairs (including but not limited to these Terms, data, records, reports, agreements, software, programs, specifications, know-how, trade secrets and other information concerning the Assignment) in any form or medium whether disclosed or granted access to whether in writing, orally or by any other means, provided to the Agency Worker or any third party in relation to the Assignment by the Hirer or the Employment Business or by a third party on behalf of the Hirer whether before or after the date of these Terms together with any reproductions of such information in any form or medium or any part(s) of such information;

“Data Protection Laws” means the Data Protection Act 1998, the General Data Protection Regulation (EU 2016/679) and any applicable statutory and regulatory provisions in force from time to time relating to the protection and transfer of personal data;

“School” means the person, firm or corporate body together with any subsidiary or associated person, firm or corporate body (as the case may be) to whom the teacher is supplied or introduced;

“School’s Group” means (a) any individual, company, partnership, statutory body or other entity which from time to time Controls the Hirer, including (but not limited to) as a holding company as defined in section 1159 of the Companies Act 2006; and (b) any company, partnership, statutory body or other entity which from time to time is Controlled by or is under common Control with the Hirer, including (but not limited to) as a subsidiary or holding company as defined in section 1159

“Introduction Fee” means the fee payable by the school to the Teacher Direct as a result of using the platform to hire teachers and subsequently recruit them directly, thereby bypassing the purpose of the Teacher Direct platform. These fees are explained in 3.4

“Type of Work” means the specified role to be undertaken, which shall comprise one of ‘teacher cover’ (i.e. teachers not undertaking all aspects of Specified Work; ‘teaching cover’ (i.e. teachers undertaking all aspects of Specified Work); classroom support work; nursery support work; or similar;

1.1. Unless the context otherwise requires, references to the singular include the plural and references to the masculine include the feminine and vice versa.

1.2. The headings contained in these Terms are for convenience only and do not affect their interpretation.

1.3. Any reference, express or implied, to an enactment includes a reference to that enactment as from time to time amended, modified, extended, re-enacted, replaced or applied by or under any other enactment (whether before or after the date of these Terms) and all subordinate legislation made (before or after these Terms) under it from time to time.

2. TERMS FOR TEACHERS PROVIDING SERVICES TO SCHOOLS

2.1. These Terms constitute the entire agreement between the Teacher and the School for the supply of services to the School. All teachers using the platform to provide their services to schools must firstly comply with Teacher Direct’s Safer Recruitment Procedures, including but not limited to: enhanced DBS checks, Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) checks ID verification, right to work in UK checks, satisfactory references, work history checks, in addition to updates as required by the DfE and KCSIE guidance. Teachers using the DBS update service can register with the platform for free. All teachers requiring a new DBS check will be required to pay a £60 fee for a DBS check. This fee is non-refundable and should the DBS check or additional check not meet Safer Recruitment approval no refund will be made.

2.2. During an Assignment the teacher will be engaged under an agreement to deliver services to the school that has hired them. All teachers are required to deliver teaching services in accordance with the DfE professional teacher standards https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-standards

All teachers using the Teacher Direct platform will be qualified teachers with QTS status. Teachers agree to work with the utmost professionalism in the schools that hire them and to provide teaching services in the schools as required for the dates requested. Any concerns raised by a school regarding a teacher in relation to these standards will be investigated by Teacher Direct. Should Teacher Direct find that any concerns raised by a school are in breach of the standards required by teachers, in line with the DfE, this will result in permanent removal of the teacher from the platform.

3. ASSIGNMENTS AND INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED

3.1. The school will endeavour to provide basic details of the school location, contact, phone number and days/hours required

3.2. The school will make payment to Teacher Direct for the teacher’s services, in addition to a £10 per day admin fee, direct to Teacher Direct. Teachers will receive direct payment of their fee 7 days in arrears as a weekly payment/payable on the following Friday after their assignments.

3.3. Should a school cancel an assignment within 48 hours before the commencement of a booked assignment, the school will still be charged, and no refunds will be made. The teacher will still receive payment.

3.4. If, before or during an Assignment or during the Relevant Period, the school wishes to Engage the teacher directly or through another employment business, the teacher acknowledges that Teacher Direct has been used to introduce the teacher to the school and will be entitled to charge the school an introductory fee. The standard introductory fee for all schools using the Teacher Direct platform is 20 days at a teachers daily rate (set at a minimum of £150 per day).

4. TEACHER’S OBLIGATIONS

4.1. The teacher is not obliged to accept any Assignment offered through Teacher Direct but if the Teacher does accept an Assignment, during every Assignment and afterwards where appropriate, s/he will:

4.1.1. cooperate with the School’s reasonable instructions and accept the direction, supervision and control of any responsible person in the School’s organisation;

4.1.2. observe any relevant rules and regulations of the School’s establishment (including normal hours of work) to which attention has been drawn or which the Agency Worker might reasonably be expected to ascertain;

4.1.3. take all reasonable steps to safeguard his or her own health and safety and that of any other person who may be present or be affected by his or her actions on the Assignment and comply with the Health and Safety policies and procedures of the School;

4.1.4. not engage in any conduct detrimental to the interests of the School and/or which results in the loss of custom or business by either Teacher Direct or the School.;

4.1.5. not commit any act or omission constituting unlawful discrimination against or harassment of any member of the Employment Business' or the Hirer's staff;

4.1.6. not at any time divulge to any person, nor use for his or her own or any other person’s benefit, any Confidential Information relating to the School’s or the Teacher Direct’s employees, business affairs, transactions or finances;

4.1.7. on completion of the Assignment or at any time when requested by the school, return to the school or where appropriate, to the Employment Business, any Hirer property or items provided to the teacher in connection with or for the purpose of the Assignment, including, but not limited to any equipment, materials, documents, swipe cards or ID cards, uniforms, personal protective equipment or clothing.

5. PAYMENT

5.1. All teachers using the Teacher Direct platform are hired directly by the school and are therefore self-employed to undertake work as required by the school, as qualified teachers.

5.2. All teachers will receive their own set daily rate. This will be paid 7 days in arrears using the platform on the following Friday after an assignment week. For example, if a teacher carries out an assignment from Monday 10^th June to Friday 15^th June on Monday to Friday, payment for this assignment will be made on Friday 22^nd June.

5.3. As teachers are using the Teacher Platform for direct recruitment of their services, it is recommended that all teachers keep a record of all assignments and income received through Teacher Direct for tax purposes. Information and suggestions on how to claim tax relief and comply with tax regulations is available on the Teacher Direct website.

6. FULFILMENT OF SERVICES

In the event that a teacher is unable to attend a school to fulfil an assignment, the school will receive a full refund of any payments made for a teacher using the Teacher Direct platform. The teacher will not receive a payment for any assignments that are not fulfilled. It is expected that teachers will cancel their assignment as soon as reasonably possible in the event of illness, accidents, or any unexpected events that mean they cannot carry out an assignment.

7. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

The Agency Worker acknowledges that all copyright, trademarks, patents and other intellectual property rights deriving from services carried out by him/her for the school during the Assignment shall belong to the school.

8. CONFIDENTIALITY

In order to protect the confidentiality and trade secrets of any school and Teacher Direct without prejudice to every other duty to keep secret all information given to it or gained in confidence the Teacher agrees as follows:

8.1. not at any time, whether during or after an Assignment (unless expressly so authorised by school Hirer or Teacher Direct as a necessary part of the performance of its duties) to disclose to any person or to make use of any of the trade secrets or the Confidential Information of the school or Teacher Direct with the exception of information already in the public domain;

8.2. deliver up to the School or Teacher Direct (as directed) at the end of each Assignment all documents and other materials belonging to the school (and all copies) which are in its possession including documents and other materials created by him/her during the course of the Assignment;

8.3. not at any time to make any copy, abstract, summary or precis of the whole or any part of any document or other material belonging to the Hirer except when required to do so in the course of its duties under an Assignment in which event any such item shall belong to the Hirer or the Employment Business as appropriate.

9. DATA PROTECTION

The teacher acknowledges that the Teacher Direct must process personal data about him/her in order to properly fulfil its obligations under these Terms and as otherwise required by law in relation to his/ her engagement in accordance with the Data Protection Laws. Such processing will principally be for administrative and payment purposes.

 10. CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS AND CAUTIONS

Anyone applying for employment in a school in a capacity involving contact with children under the age of 18 is exempt from the Provisions of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 by virtue of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) (Amendments) Order 1986. The Agency Worker is, therefore, not entitled to withhold information about convictions, cautions or additional information which for other purposes are 'spent' under the Provisions of the Act and, in the event of being placed in an Assignment, any failure to disclose such convictions could result in the termination of the assignment. The DBS website (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dbs-filteringguidance) has more information about DBS filtering.

The Teacher agrees to complete an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) disclosure application and gives the Employment Business permission to check the DBS Update Service for the purposes of obtaining an up to date criminal record background check for any relevant assignments.

Teachers who have not been resident in the UK for more than five years agree to provide an equivalent standard of criminal background check from their home country in addition to completing a Disclosure and Barring Service Enhanced Disclosure Application.

The teacher gives the Employment Business permission to securely hold a copy of his/her DBS certificate on file and share relevant DBS information with the school.

11. SEVERABILITY

If any of the provisions of these Terms shall be determined by any competent authority to be unenforceable to any extent, such provision shall, to that extent, be severed from the remaining Terms, which shall continue to be valid to the fullest extent permitted by applicable laws.

12. NOTICES

All notices which are required to be given in accordance with these Terms shall be in writing and may be delivered personally or by first class prepaid post to the registered office of the party upon whom the notice is to be served or any other address that the party has notified the other party in writing, including by email or facsimile transmission. Any such notice shall be deemed to have been served: if by hand when delivered; if by first class post 48 hours following posting; and if by email or facsimile transmission, when that email or facsimile is sent.

13. RIGHTS OF THIRD PARTIES

None of the provisions of these Terms are intended to be for the benefit of or enforceable by third parties and the operation of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 is excluded.

14. GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION

These Terms are governed by the law of England & Wales and are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England & Wales.