Teacher Strikes – Do I Still Get Paid If My Child’s School Is Closed?

Thousands of teachers across England and Wales are set to walk out of classrooms over pay this February and March after the National Education Union (NEU) reached the threshold required to take strike action.

In England and Wales, most teachers in state schools had a pay rise of 5% in 2022 but many are set to strike, arguing that due to the cost-of-living crisis and inflation, such increases amount to a pay cut in real terms.

According to guidance from the Department for Education, head teachers are expected to take reasonable steps to keep schools open for as many pupils as possible during industrial action. However, the NEU has said that the strikes will impact 23,400 schools which will, of course, affect many workers with childcare responsibilities.

Below, we have answered some employee-related queries if workers are unable to work due to teacher strikes and issues with childcare.

When are the strikes taking place?

Seven days of walkouts will take place on:

The NEU has commented that any individual school will only be impacted on a maximum of four out of the seven dates referenced above.

School support staff in Wales will also be taking strike action. However, this will not be the case for support staff in England as the ballot threshold was not reached. This was also the case with the teacher’s trade union NASUWT, whose ballot also failed to reach the threshold.

Does my employer have to pay me if I can’t work due to the teacher strikes because my child’s school is closed?

Put simply, no, they don’t.

In general, it’s an employee’s responsibility to manage their own childcare arrangements. Where those arrangements fall through, for example, because of teacher strikes, and the employee has to take time off, the employer is not required to pay the employee for such time.

Can I take time off work if my child’s school closes due to the teacher strikes?

Most employers will understand the difficulties faced by employees in these circumstances and allow them to take the time off as annual leave or allow them to work from home or make time up if they struggle to find alternative childcare arrangements.

If this isn’t possible for one reason or another, workers are able to take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off work to deal with unexpected problems, such as childcare issues, which is known as ‘dependant leave’.

Parents should inform their employers as soon as they possibly can if they think they will need to take dependant leave.

Another unpaid leave option available to employees is parental leave. This is available to those employed by an organisation for at least 12 months with a child who is 18 years old or younger. It’s only available to employees and not to self-employed, agency workers or contractors unless previously agreed with an employer. Employees can take up to 18 weeks off for parental leave, but employers can restrict this to four weeks off per year. Again, in such circumstances, employees need to inform their employers at the earliest opportunity.

However, before making a request for parental leave, parents should try to make alternative childcare arrangements.

I am employed by a school which has had to close for the day due to the teacher strikes but I am not striking myself. Will I still be paid for the days the school is closed?

If any employer closes due to strike action, workers should be entitled to pay if they are available for work. In most circumstances, an employer has an obligation to provide work and an employee is required to undertake the work provided. Consequently, should an employee be available to work on one or more of their contract days, but the business is closed, they are entitled to be paid their salary.

This generally doesn’t occur as employers will put in place plans, such as working from home or a planned shutdown where holidays are used, but this doesn’t really apply to schools.