Lessons from Setting Up HR in a Small MAT

Lisa Bower reflects on how academisation has reshaped HR in her small multi-academy trust, from managing TUPE transitions and dual policies to building systems that balance compliance with care for staff

I am the CFO of a small multi-academy trust. We opened in March of this year, and I have previously written about the challenges of setting up and establishing finance systems that work across to very different schools. Now it is time for HR.

As we only have two schools, we don’t have the budget to allow us to employ someone to do HR, so whilst we pay for HR consultancy, most of the work is done by me.  It has been challenging to find the time to set up systems, whilst continuing to do my day-to-day job. I am a systems person, I like processes, forms and spreadsheets – they help me to organise my day and give me the feeling that I am in control – even when I’m not. Across the two schools we have around 250 staff, we run our own payroll through Edupay, and produce our own contracts, contract changes etc.

Beyond Box Ticking

It has been complicated to ensure staff at both schools (mine included) follow policies. We all need to remind ourselves that policies aren’t there to tick a compliance box, they are there to be followed. In fact, I find it much easier to hide behind a policy, particularly when delivering bad news – you’ll often hear me say “I’m really sorry I couldn’t do anything else, but it is in our policy” – it makes me feel less of a baddie!

The current challenges have been in organising the TURA (Trade Union Recognition Agreement). We have been working on this for around twelve months now, trying to ensure an agreement that everyone is happy with and it is tricky! This is particularly important because when the trust opened all staff TUPE’d over. It has been key to ensure that no staff is penalised for this, so we have had to keep two sets of policies. This means that staff across the two schools have slightly different rights. Over time we will be able to work on merging these, but it is more complicated than I ever imagined.

Trust Code of Conduct

One area we have been able to do this with is a Trust Code of Conduct – on the face of it this should not have been at all controversial, but we have produced around four versions before coming to agreement on one that is relevant to everyone (primary and secondary) and no one – including the unions – has any issues with. Happily, we are nearly there.

On a day-to-day basis I deal with an incredibly wide range of HR issues, sickness absence, bereavements, bullying allegations, disciplinaries, flexible working requests, retirement to name but a few, and now I do this across two sites. As an SBL I have often talked about how our role is so incredibly varied, one minute we are dealing with the BFR (Budget Forecast Return) and the next we have a crying member of staff in our office, or we are sorting out a Governor election, or maybe even doing a lunch duty. HR is a very small part of our role, but we should never lose sight of how important it is. Something that might seem minor to us could be keeping one of our team up at night – and that isn’t helpful for anyone.