It is important to make sure that information is consistent for staffing. A number of support services are available for specific advice.

General information is given here to provide guidance. Up to date information is available from ACAS (www.acas.org.uk)

Holidays

How much paid holiday are staff entitled to?

• Every worker – whether part-time or full-time – is entitled to 4.8 weeks annual leave.
• A week’s leave should allow workers to be away from work for a week. It should be the same amount of time as the working week: if a worker does a 5-day week, he or she is entitled to 20 days’ leave; if he or she does a 3-day week, the entitlement is 12 days’ leave.
• The leave entitlement under the regulations is not additional to bank holidays. There is no statutory right to take bank holidays off.
• Workers must give the employer notice that they want to take leave. In the absence of an agreement the notice period that a worker must give should be at least twice the period of the leave to be taken.
• An employer may refuse the worker permission to take leave requested within a period equivalent to the period of the leave.
• The leave entitlement under the regulations is not additional to bank holidays. There is no statutory right to take bank holidays off.
• Employers can set the times that workers take their leave, for example for a Christmas shutdown.
• If a worker’s employment ends, he or she has a right to be paid for the leave time due and not taken.

The Committee must check:

• Who is entitled to annual leave.
• How much leave workers currently receive and whether it is enough.
• Whether workers receive a week's pay for each week of leave.
• Other rights included in the Working Time Regulations include:
• 11 consecutive hours’ rest in any 24 hour period.
• An in-work rest break if the working day is longer than six hours.
• The break must be at least 20 minutes and should be a break in working time and should not be taken either at the start, or at the end of a working day.

OfSTED National Standards state the baseline of quality, below which no provider may fall, for the provision of under eights day care is:

• All supervisors hold a level 3 qualification appropriate for the care or development of children. Where this cannot be achieved immediately, providers set out an action plan detailing how they intend to meet this criterion and in what timescales. Ofsted will consider the plan offering their approval or indicating aspects that need improvement.
• At least half of all other child care staff hold a level 2 qualification appropriate for the careor development of children.
• All staff have induction training which includes health and safety and child protectionpolicies and procedures in their first week of employment.

Advice is available from Dorset Sure Start Recruitment officer on 0845 3552099.

Dorset Sure Start also offer a staff bank service for temporary staffing contact 0845 070 1007 for further information.

Staff Ratios

The minimum staffing ratios vary, please check the National Standards for guidance.

Ratios include any children of staff or volunteers. Regular volunteers can be taken into account in the normal staffing ratios but students on short term placements cannot.

See www.ofsted.gov.uk for more details or contact Dorset Sure Start on 0845 3552099

Every employee has a contract of employment, whether in writing or not. The fact that an employee has agreed to work and you have agreed to pay is likely to constitute a contract of employment. However, if a dispute arises e.g. as to the rate of pay or entitlement to bonus, it will be more difficult to prove that your version is correct if a written contract is not in place.

Further information and advice is available from ACAS (www.acas.org.uk)

Also in this Section:

Holidays

Training & Development

Recruitment

OFSTED Requirements

Employment Contracts

Documents:

ACAS

National Occupancy Standards for Childcare

National Occupancy Standards for Playwork