The committee employs a team of qualified and experienced early years practitioners to manage the day to day running of the childcare provision and sometimes (if you are fortunate enough) an administrator/bookkeeper to assist with the effective the administration of the setting. As employers of the staff, you must comply with the laws on employment. These will involve fulfilling responsibilities to your employees (by respecting their legal rights) and to the Government (by operating PAYE and other systems). You will also need to work together to supervise the work of your employees and to put appropriate systems and controls in place to ensure that tasks are carried out correctly and meet legal requirements.
Recruitment
The Committee need to ensure that any staff recruited have the right skills, qualifications and experience to carry out their duties and also be suitable to work with children. A clear and fair recruitment process should be in place to ensure equality of opportunity and at least one member of the interview panel should have undertaken 'safer recruitment' training, which can be accessed via the NYSCP and NSPCC websites.
Staff qualifications, training, support and skills must be in line with the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage.
Contracts
All staff contracts should be in line with the Employment Act 1996 and the Equality Act 2010.
HR Support
NYC offers and Early Years HR Advisory Service which can be bought as a traded service through NYES (North Yorkshire Education Services) https://nyestraining.co.uk/
ACAS is also a source of support which can be found on the following link: http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1461
If you are a member of the Early Years Alliance, you automatically have support through LawCall, which is a 24 hour, confidential legal helpline that provides advice on employment issues for the trustees, directors or owners of Alliance member settings. Contact details for Lawcall are given on your Alliance membership at https://www.eyalliance.org.uk/
Minimum Wage
More information can be found on the following link: https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates
Holiday Entitlement
The following link will help calculate holiday entitlement: https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-holiday-entitlement
Pension Scheme
Free impartial advice from www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk. An automatic pension enrolment scheme has come into force, more info: http://thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/employers/what-is-automatic-enrolment.aspx
Induction
This should be in place for every new member of staff / volunteer / student to support their development and knowledge of the setting and to ensure that they are fully aware of their role and responsibilities.
Line Management
This is usually the Playleader or Manager for the rest of the staff and the Chairperson is usually line manager for the Playleader or Manager.
Appraisals
Should be undertaken at least once a year to record and assess an employee's performance, potential and development needs. This can also be linked to bonus's and pay increments if required.
Supervision meetings
Supervision of staff should be in line with the requirements of the Statutory Framework for the EYFS.
Useful links
NSPCC Safer Recruitment Online Course
NYSCP Training available at https://www.safeguardingchildren.co.uk/training-north-yorkshire/training-courses/#33
