Deborah Allen shines a spotlight on how ASCL's Member Support Team offers practical, confidential help when leadership pressures mount.

Support when you need it most

It is a real privilege to be writing I my first article for Leader magazine. As a former ASCL member myself, I always found each edition packed with timely insight, reassurance and practical advice. In my new role, I hope to add to these pages by sharing insight from the work of ASCL's Member Support Team (www.ascl.org.uk/MemberSupportTeam) and, in particular, from the issues you most frequently raise with us via the ASCL Hotline (www.ascl.org.uk/hotline).

I took up post as Deputy Director of Member Support and Head of Hotline in November 2024. I now lead a small but highly experienced team of former school and college leaders, bringing decades of senior leadership experience across different phases and contexts. 

When you contact our Hotline, you are not speaking to a call handler reading from a script; you are speaking to someone who understands first-hand the pressures, accountability, and emotional load that come with leading schools and colleges.

What the Hotline does and why members use it 

The range of issues that members contact the Hotline about is vast. Calls can range from quick checks on conditions of service, through to complex and distressing situations involving complaints, disciplinary processes, or threats to employment. Encouragingly, more than 70% of calls are resolved at the first point of contact. Often, members want reassurance, confirmation of what the rules say, or help thinking through how best to approach a difficult conversation. 

Where a situation requires highly specialised advice, or where a member is facing significant risk, we can refer them to one of our specialists or experienced caseworkers. These colleagues are paid union officials with deep expertise and a strong commitment to supporting members and their schools and colleges. 

Current hot topics will be familiar to many of you: escalating complaints, challenges linked to social media, inspection pressures, and heightened union activity. While the Hotline cannot always intervene directly, we are always willing to listen, help you unpick what is happening, and suggest sensible ways forward.

All contact with our Hotline is treated as strictly confidential. Calls and emails to our Tell Us inbox (tellus@ascl.org.uk) are also monitored to identify emerging themes, helping ASCL represent your interests effectively when working with government and other bodies.

Spotlight on conditions of service: when workload becomes too much 

To bring this to life, I want to focus on a composite example based on a number of similar calls to our Hotline. NB: Details have been changed to protect the privacy of individual members.

Jane is an Assistant Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead in a maintained secondary school. She contacted the Hotline in considerable distress, describing a workload that had become unmanageable following a school restructure driven by financial pressures. 

She explained that the leadership team had been significantly reduced, class sizes had increased, and her teaching load had doubled. In addition, she had been told she must undertake before and after-school duties, as well as break and lunchtime supervision every day. Staff absence meant she was frequently covering the inclusion room, meetings filled most evenings, and she was now on a weekend detention rota. She was regularly working until late at night, spending at least one day each weekend catching up, and sometimes going all day without eating. Unsurprisingly, her sleep was suffering, and she was worried about the impact on her health and family life.

For members like Jane, the first thing we always seek to establish on the Hotline is whether they are well enough to be in school or college. Many leaders push on regardless, driven by a strong sense of responsibility and a reluctance to let colleagues or pupils down. Too often, they only stop when they reach breaking point. While Jane felt she was coping for now, she recognised that the situation was unsustainable.

We discussed the importance of employers' duty of care (www.acas.org.uk/implied-duties/duty-of-care), and advised that her first step should be to raise her concerns with her line manager and/or headteacher. Governing bodies and headteachers must have regard for teachers' ability to achieve a satisfactory work/life balance, as set out in the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) (tinyurl.com/3vstzkh2).

We also encouraged Jane to consult the Burgundy Book (www.ascl.org.uk/BurgundyBook2023) and the most recent STPCD, which together form the contractual framework for teachers in maintained schools and the majority of academies. We talked through the relevant sections, explaining that although she was a senior leader, working time protections still applied. In general, teachers cannot be required to work on Saturdays, Sundays, or public holidays, nor to undertake midday supervision. As an assistant headteacher, Jane was entitled to a break of reasonable length near the middle of the school day. She was also entitled to planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time, and to a reasonable amount of time during the school day to discharge her leadership responsibilities. Rarely, cover expectations apply to all teachers, including assistant headteachers. 

Jane was understandably anxious about raising these issues. Together, we discussed how she might request a meeting, identify her most pressing concerns and suggest realistic adjustments that could help reduce the immediate strain. In many cases, issues like these can be resolved through careful communication and a shared understanding of what is reasonable and lawful. We also made clear that if matters did not improve, she should contact the Hotline again so we could explore further support, including referral to a caseworker if appropriate.

You're not on your own 

Leadership can be an isolating role, particularly when resources are tight and expectations continue to grow. One of the consistent messages from members is how reassuring it is simply to talk things through with someone who understands. The Hotline exists to provide that space, alongside clear, professional advice grounded in your conditions of service.

If there is one message I would leave you with, it is this: please do not wait until a situation becomes a crisis before getting in touch. Early conversations often prevent problems from escalating and help you protect both your wellbeing and your professional position.

Deborah Allen 
ASCL Deputy Director of Member Support and Head of Hotline 
@ascl-uk.bsky.social

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ASCL HOTLINE

HERE WHEN YOU NEED US 

Opening times: Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm (excluding UK public holidays)

Telephone: 0116 2991122

Email: hotline@ascl.org.uk

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CONFIDENTIALITY AND LEGAL NOTE:

All contact with the ASCL Hotline is treated as highly confidential. Advice provided via the Hotline is general guidance based on current conditions of service and employment law. Please also refer to the ASCL Legal and Member Support Policy (www.ascl.org.uk/LegalandMember SupportPolicy) and online resources available to members at www.ascl.org.uk

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