Union recognition at Wellingborough School

Three education unions have jointly won a statutory recognition deal with the independent Wellingborough School in Northamptonshire. The school was obliged to recognise the NASUWT and NEU teaching unions and the NAHT head teachers’ union on behalf of “teachers, specifically those with a contract to teach and who meet the eligibility criteria to pay into the Teachers Pension Scheme”.


The Central Arbitration Committee did not insist on a recognition ballot as it had ascertained that a majority (61%) of the bargaining unit were members of one or other of the unions. It was not convinced by the employer’s claim that awarding recognition without a ballot would be detrimental to industrial relations.