Breach of Contract
1. This appeal concerns claims by former teachers in Wales for SEN allowance payable under their contracts. The Employment Tribunal held that the conditions for entitlement were satisfied in each case, and accordingly, that the failure to pay SEN allowance was a breach of contract.
2. The Employment Tribunal erred in so concluding in two respects. First, by construing the conditions of entitlement in paragraph 25.2(d) of the Document so as to give no effect to the requirement that the setting of a teacher’s work must be ‘analogous to a designated special class or unit’ to qualify, the Employment Tribunal erred in law. Secondly, the Employment Tribunal erred in its approach to condition (iii) in concluding that the ‘unit or service’ for the purposes of determining whether the claimants had ‘a greater involvement in the teaching of children with [SEN] than is the normal requirement of teachers throughout . . the unit or service’ was the whole education authority rather than the home tutoring service.
3. On a proper construction of the Document, and in light of the evidence, the Claimants are not entitled to be paid SEN allowance for the relevant periods because (a) home tutoring was not an analogous setting to a designated special class or unit; and (b) because they did not establish that they had a greater involvement in the teaching of children with SEN than is the normal requirement of teachers throughout the unit or service, when condition (iii) is properly understood and applied to the facts of their case.
4. The appeal is therefore allowed. Further, for the reasons explained in the judgment, their claims for breach of contract fail and are dismissed.
Citations:
[2018] UKEAT 0253 – 17 – 0205
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Employment
Updated: 22 April 2022; Ref: scu.616894