HR CONSULTANCY SERVICES

Achieve and operate with excellence and efficiency

Introduction

We are committed to a shared vision for improved outcomes for children and young people. Every member of our team is motivated to delivering effective services, which impact on, and contribute to achieving this. The HR team continuously strive to provide outstanding customer service, and build long-lasting professional relationships, which are at the heart of all that we do.

The solutions offered by our HR Consultancy Service include personalised support from a dedicated and highly skilled HR specialist, offering creative, solution-focused remedies for all of your Employee Relations/casework challenges. Support that is not risk averse – we will help manage risk, whilst supporting you to make robust decisions where they need to be made for case progression or best outcomes for the School/Trust.

 

HR Professional On-site support

Our HR Professional support package will provide you with pragmatic and straightforward guidance through a reasonable usage package. You will have access to telephone, email or on-site support from a named HR Consultant, assigned to your School/Trust. Our practical and pro-active advice and support will enable you to effectively manage all of your employee relations matters, including:

  • Staff disciplinary, grievance, bullying & harrassment and safeguarding issues
  • Capability (Health and Performance)
  • Change Management (Restructure, Redundancy and Terms & Conditions)
  • Local and National Terms and Conditions advice
  • Performance Management & Appraisal (including performance related pay)
  • Policies, guidance and templates
  • Sickness absence and welfare support (including access to Occupational Health and Counselling Services)
  • Union consultation and negotiation
  • TUPE advice, guidance and support
  • Exit Strategies (including settlement negoiations)

 

HR Confident-Remote Support

Our HR Confident support package will provide you with a business partner approach through direct contact with a sounding board who will deliver comprehensive advice and reassurance on the more complex issues through unlimited access to telephone, or email advice from
a named HR Consultant, assigned to your School/Trust.

We confidently believe that you will find that our collaborative support brings valued return on how your HR matters are supported, including:

  • Unlimited access to Duty Line (Monday to Friday 8.30am – 5.00pm, except for bank holidays and during periods of School closure when the duty line will operate, Monday to Friday 9.00am – 4.00pm, excluding bank holidays).
  • HR updates and useful tips.
  • Access to a wide range of School specific template letters.
  • Exclusive discounts for the purchase of our additional services.
Sickness Absence Monitoring
Effective management of sickness absence can make all the difference to securing a positive, supported return to work and/or mitigating associated costs and impact. Our Sickness Absence Monitoring Service Offer provides you with a tested model for effectively monitoring and analysing your data for all of your employees in line with your specific sickness absence triggers appertaining to your School/Trust.

 

You will be provided with a weekly absence report, identifying the employees whom have triggered, those close to triggering and the next steps required. With our robust support, better processes for managing sickness absence can be implemented to achieve more effective outcomes, reduction of in-house administration and significant cost savings.

Leave of Absence Monitoring
Staff absence has a significant impact on the day to day delivery of the education for your pupils in addition to a financial impact on Schools/Trusts. Employees may need time off for a variety of reasons other than sickness absence. Accurate measurement, identifying trends and exploring the underlying causes are key elements in effective monitoring of leave of absence.

 

Our Leave of Absence Monitoring Service Offer provides you with an effective framework whilst also providing you with a clear and consistent guidance. We will also notify you of any employees who have exceeded their entitlement to paid authorised leave. In addition you will receive a half termly report that will provide you with an overview of the authorised leave taken, including the number of working days lost, the reasons, and an overall summary.

Leadership and Executive Recruitment
In the ever changing world of Education, effective Leadership posts have never been so essential. Whether you are recruiting to a Headteacher post or considering your first Executive role within a Trust, S4S can support you with a seamless recruitment and selection process.

 

At S4S we will work in partnership with you to personalise your recruitment campaign, to ensure your school branding, ethos and vision is clearly shared and embedded throughout.

Our diligent and experienced support equips Governing/Trust Boards and Headteachers with the necessary skills, support and guidance to carry out a thorough, effective and fair recruitment process. This in turn will provide you with a greater chance of success and the reassurance that you are recruiting and retaining effective senior staff, who will have a significant impact towards the positive outcomes for staff and pupils.

Mediation
Our Mediation Service Offer is designed to provide schools and academies with a recognised alternative to resolving differences through potential lengthy grievances or other processes. Mediation is a process of conflict resolution whereby a neutral third party is invited to intervene in a workplace situation to assist with the constructive resolution of that conflict. Our mediators will encourage and facilitate open and honest dialogue between the parties, an approach that leads to increased awareness, understanding and empathy. Effective workplace mediation will provide all parties access to a fair and equitable form of conflict resolution, which encourages sustainable, realistic and shared “win- win” outcomes, whilst also avoiding costly and lengthy investigations.
Investigation Officer
Our Investigating Officer Service Offer is designed to support Headteachers, Senior Leaders and Governors in HR matters that require formal investigation and resolution. These might typically be disciplinary matters, grievances, and complaints of harassment/bullying.

 

Alleviating additional workload pressures from Headteachers, and other senior leaders providing the ability to retain focus on their school’s effectiveness and achievement of pupils. In line with your own policy, the investigating officer will support the management of these difficult and often contentious situations. The service provides you with a highly skilled, experienced and impartial investigating officer who will prepare a legally compliant, impartial, confidential, rapid and high-quality report and support the management case at any hearings.

Investigation Support Officer
Correctly conducted investigations result in better decision making, greater fairness and consistency in the way in which employees are managed. Conducting an internal investigation can be extremely labour intensive and complicated. In line with your policies and procedures employment tribunals expect employers to show that they have undertaken a fair and thorough investigation.   

 

Our Investigation Support Service Offer provides you with confident, reliable support, whilst alleviating the time-consuming pressures and challenges that are placed on your internally appointed investigation officer. Your dedicated Investigation Support Officer will support and guide you with concise note taking,
production of witness statements, review of investigation questions, evidence, management report and hearing presentation, providing recommendations for change. This service will significantly reduce the workload pressures, providing the confidence and reassurance required to enable your internal investigation officer to produce a robust management report whilst maintaining legal compliance

Equality Compliance
As an employer you will have a legal duty to ensure and promote equality and fairness across all of your employees. Our Equality Compliance Service Offer is a bespoke package that is built around the individual need of your School/Trust. It provides complete support enabling you to meet your legal obligations,  whilst having the least impact on your employees. Your dedicated equality expert will provide you with comprehensive support, guiding you from start to finish  through the complexities of Equality legislation and procedures. This will provide confirmation that your employees are deployed into appropriate roles that meet the needs of the School/Trust, whilst also ensuring salaries are in line with the requirement of the role and are market competitive for the purpose of recruitment and retention. 

 

Our team of experts are highly proficient in managing these complex projects, whilst ensuring minimal disruption to you and your employees, enabling you to focus upon delivering the best education for our children and young people.

HR Audit
Our HR Audit Service Offer provides you with a comprehensive impartial review of your current practices, documentation, policies and procedures relevant to the internal HR systems of your School/Trust.

 

With the ever changing environment and regulations, our effective HR Audit service involves the systematic review of all aspects of HR, including; personnel file review, job descriptions, form reviews, policies and procedures, documentation and systems and end to end recruitment. Our team of experts will conduct a detailed review, providing you with a comprehensive report that will clearly outline the findings, with key recommendations for change that will contribute towards improving and enhancing your HR function, in addition to maintaining your legal compliance.

In-House Bespoke Training
Our In-House HR Bespoke Training Service Offer provides a flexible approach to the training and development needs of your School/Trust.

 

We recognise that the goals and challenges are individual and unique to every School/Trust. Our team of training facilitators will work with you to create and design a custom, blended bespoke training package that is tailored to your internal training/ development needs, timescales, learning objectives, content and
learning outcomes.

Executive Salary Review for Multi-Academy Trusts
Our Executive Salary Review Service Offer provides specialist advice and support to Directors and Trustees with the setting of Executive Pay, including terms and conditions of employment. Mitigating your risks we will ensure compliance with guidance from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and comprehensive benchmarking to ensure robust and transparent decision making.
Equality Compliance
As an employer you will have a legal duty to ensure and promote equality and fairness across all of your employees. Our Equality Compliance Service Offer is a bespoke package that is built around the individual need of your School/Trust. It provides complete support enabling you to meet your legal obligations,
whilst having the least impact on your employees. Your dedicated equality expert will provide you with comprehensive support, guiding you from start to finish through the complexities of Equality legislation and procedures. This will provide confirmation that your employees are deployed into appropriate roles that meet the needs of the School/Trust, whilst also ensuring salaries are in line with the requirement of the role and are market competitive for the purpose of recruitment and retention. 

 

Our team of experts are highly proficient in managing these complex projects, whilst ensuring minimal disruption to you and your employees, enabling you to focus upon delivering the best education for our children and young people.

In addition, we also offer:

Unlimited access to Duty Line (Monday to Friday 8.30am – 5.00pm, except for bank holidays and during periods of School closure when the duty line will operate, Monday to Friday 9.00am – 4.00pm, excluding bank holidays).
HR updates and useful tips.
Access to a wide range of School specific template letters.
Exclusive discounts for the purchase of our additional services.

What Our Customers Say

Head of school, mat in wolverhampton

Over a number of years, we have developed a great partnership with S4S HR Consultancy.  Their dedication, knowledge and support with all matters that have arisen, no matter how great or small has been invaluable and greatly appreciated.  It is reassuring to know that there is always someone at the end of the phone or contactable by email that can give advice in line with the latest legislation and support in key meetings when needed.

Headteacher, school in walsall

I transferred our HR consultancy services from the Local Authority to S4S (Services 4 Schools) almost 6 years ago as I was looking for a professional service that places the children at the heart of its work, just as we do. It has become one of the best decisions that I made for the children, staff and the school.

school business manager, walsall

S4S are a great support in managing aspects of the schools data and finance.  Staff are helpful and supportive and provide advice and guidance throughout the academic year on a variety of subjects including Census, statutory submissions and budget management.  The service is invaluable in saving time and resources particularly during busier periods of the school year.