The Support Staff Little Pocket Book sets out succinctly the framework of the law covering non teaching staff in schools. The vast majority of the information in this publication is also relevant to teachers, leadership teams and governors.

Support Staff are an invaluable part of the school team. Your contracts and conditions of service are different from teachers but you enjoy the same rights under employment, health and safety laws and you share a growing number of common activities with teachers.

The Support Staff Little Pocket Book is not definitive since the law and its implications for support staff are changing all the time. For a complete understanding of the legal requirements you will need to go to the Acts of Parliament, Regulations and government guidance. To enable you to learn more, we have included a comprehensive list of contact details and websites. We urge you to consult these as appropriate. They will help you to develop a wider understanding of your role in the complex business of working in schools in 2008. The websites have been researched and chosen by school staff to widen your understanding of the issues involved in your professional duties.

Differences in guidance for Wales are shown in red. We also refer to documents that form part of the QGP Quick Guides for School Management in purple. Please see the QGP website at www.qgpsolutions.com for further details of our CM SYSTEM that is supported by a search engine to help you retrieve information for you to consider within your role. Quick Guides School Management System provides you with model policies, guidance, checklists and model letters and the explanation of the law.

QGP will consider any requests for information to be included in future editions of this publication. Please email your requests to: qgp@qgpsolutions.com. All information will be logged and recorded for use in our next edition.