M
Member
Speaking in the House of Lords on 16 July 2025
Debate
Employment Rights BillContribution
In another case highlighted by Edapt, which offers edu-legal support for school staff, Higgs v Farmor’s School, a teaching assistant was called into a disciplinary hearing lasting six and a half hours. The school brought a lawyer. Kristie Higgs faced a possible end to her employment and her reputation, and asked if she could bring her father for support. That request was refused; the law did not permit it. The employer was eventually found to have unfairly dismissed Mrs Higgs, but one part of her story shows how unfair all this is. Because Mrs Higgs was not in a union, she was left alone opposite a lawyer and her bosses and was unsupported. She was told that she could bring a colleague but, as others have noted, surely any colleague working with her might be fearful, knowing that Mrs Higgs was being disciplined for expressing opinions about sex and relationship education at her son’s school—not even the school she was employed at. If you, as a colleague, accompanied her at a grievance hearing, you might fear that your school’s senior leadership team might assume that you shared her opinions and then you might be disciplined too.
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