Education Act 2002

37 Payments in respect of dismissal, etc.E+W

(1)It shall be for the governing body of a maintained school to determine—

(a)whether any payment should be made by the [F1local authority] in respect of the dismissal, or for the purpose of securing the resignation, of any member of the staff of the school, and

(b)the amount of any such payment.

(2)Subsection (1) does not, however, apply in relation to a payment which the [F1local authority] are required to make—

(a)by virtue of any contract other than one made in contemplation of the impending dismissal or resignation of the member of staff concerned, or

(b)under any statutory provision.

(3)The [F1local authority] —

(a)shall take such steps as may be required for giving effect to any determination of the governing body under subsection (1), and

(b)shall not make, or agree to make, a payment in relation to which that subsection applies except in accordance with such a determination.

(4)Subject to subsection (7), costs incurred by the [F1local authority] in respect of any premature retirement of a member of the staff of a maintained school shall be met from the school’s budget share for one or more [F2funding periods] except in so far as the authority agree with the governing body in writing (whether before or after the retirement occurs) that they shall not be so met.

(5)Subject to subsection (7), costs incurred by the [F1local authority] in respect of the dismissal, or for the purpose of securing the resignation, of any member of the staff of a maintained school shall not be met from the school’s budget share for any [F3funding period] except in so far as the authority have good reason for deducting those costs, or any part of those costs, from that share.

(6)The fact that the authority have a policy precluding dismissal of their employees by reason of redundancy is not to be regarded as a good reason for the purposes of subsection (5); and in this subsection the reference to dismissal by reason of redundancy shall be read in accordance with section 139 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (c. 18).

(7)Where a [F1local authority] incur costs—

(a)in respect of any premature retirement of any member of the staff of a maintained school who is employed for community purposes, or

(b)in respect of the dismissal, or for the purpose of securing the resignation, of any member of the staff of a maintained school who is employed for those purposes,

they shall recover those costs from the governing body except in so far as the authority agree with the governing body in writing (whether before or after the retirement, dismissal or resignation occurs) that they shall not be so recoverable.

[F4(7A)Any amount payable by virtue of subsection (7) by the governing body of a maintained school in England to the local authority may be met by the governing body out of the school's budget share for any funding period if and to the extent that the condition in subsection (7B) is met.

(7B)The condition is that the governing body are satisfied that meeting the amount out of the school's budget share will not to a significant extent interfere with the performance of any duty imposed on them by section 21(2) or by any other provision of the Education Acts.]

(8)Any amount payable by virtue of subsection (7) by the governing body of a maintained school [F5 in Wales] to the [F1local authority] shall not be met by the governing body out of the school’s budget share for any [F6funding period].

(9)Where a person is employed partly for community purposes and partly for other purposes, any payment or costs in respect of that person is to be apportioned between the two purposes; and the preceding provisions of this section shall apply separately to each part of the payment or costs.

(10)Regulations may make provision with respect to the recovery from governing bodies of amounts payable by virtue of subsection (7).

(11)Subsections (1) to (6) do not apply to a maintained school at any time when the school does not have a delegated budget by virtue of any suspension under F7... Schedule 15 to, the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (c. 31) [F8or section 8 of the School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013].

[F9(12)In this section—

• “community purposes” means the purposes of the provision of facilities or services under section 27;

• “funding period” has the meaning given by section 45(1B) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.]