Appropriate Body Services

What are Appropriate Body Services and who are they for?  

An Appropriate Body has two key roles: monitoring of support and monitoring of assessment of Early Career Teachers (ECTs) over the course of their two-year induction period. An Appropriate Body makes the final decision, based on a Headteacher’s recommendation, as to whether an ECT has satisfactorily met the Teachers’ Standards. It is a statutory requirement that all schools that offer statutory induction register their ECTs with an Appropriate Body. This is a chargeable service.  

Please note: Appropriate Body services are separate from the Early Career Framework which is a statutory professional development entitlement. (Provider-led Early Career Framework Full Induction Programmes are fully-funded by the DFE and are free to schools who sign up to them). 

 Who can act as an Appropriate Body (AB)?  

For September 2021-23, only Teaching School Hubs and Local Authorities were allowed to offer AB services. This means that Waltham Forest Local Authority, Redbridge Local Authority and Haringey Education Partnership (HEP) have been your only local AB providers during this period.  

The DfE has confirmed that from September 2023 only Teaching School Hubs will be able to register new ECTs. ECTs moving from Year 1 to Year 2 of their induction can continue to complete their induction with their current AB provider. We advise all schools to stay with their current provider for existing ECTs.

How will we support the transition to NELTSH being the only provider of AB Services in our region?  

The North East London Teaching School Hub (NELTSH) will act as the Appropriate Body for schools in our region, covering Waltham Forest, Redbridge and Haringey. We have been working with all three Local Authorities during this transition period to ensure the service we provide and the staff you work with remain as consistent as possible. As a result, we can offer schools in each area an opportunity to work with the existing staff you with whom have built relationships, and with many of the systems around registration, progress reviews and assessments remaining the same or similar. We know that this will support ECTs and schools during this period of transition and ensure we maintain the excellent standard of support that is already well established across the region.  

We have been working collaboratively and transparently with our three Local Authorities to support a smooth transition. For example, we have/will:  

• Set up pricing structures to ensure that prices are very similar to those schools have been paying to date across all local providers  
• Hold joint moderation of assessments to ensure our expectations are aligned across the region. To support this, we have created together guidance issued to schools on how we review an assessment.  
• Agreed to use the same dates for assessments wherever possible to minimise confusion for school colleagues.  
• Coordinated regular meetings to plan for the transition with local authority Appropriate Bodies and will attend Headteacher consultative meetings and School Business Manager Forums to keep schools updated.  

We also are working with the DfE and national Teaching School Hubs network to determine how we can work collegiately with local partners to retain local knowledge and expertise when we become the sole AB local provider from September 2024.  

We will keep local schools updated with our progress and transition plans via the NELTSH website and specific communications to Induction Leads, Induction Tutors and Headteachers.  

Charging

The induction registration charges will be £300 per ECT per year of induction. The ECT registration will cover:

• The cost of the ECT Manager programme for tutors and ECTs
• Induction Lead/Tutor training
• Continued advice and support throughout the year, support and guidance where ECTs are struggling, including online and face to face meetings.  

Schools delivering their own Core or School Based Early Career Frameworks will incur fidelity check charges. Details of these charges are given below:  

• £400 one off fee for a School Based ECF - payable in September (this will cover the main fidelity check and Term 3 and Term 6 review points) 
• £225 one off fee for a Core Based ECF - payable in September (this will cover the main fidelity check and Term 3 and Term 6 review points) 

For those schools who are already delivering a School Based or Core programme, please contact the Teaching School Hub directly at ab@neltsh.com for individual pricing. 

Only the lead school would be subject to fidelity check charges.  Schools participating in SB or Core ECF programmes would be subject to charges only from the lead school.

How can I register my ECT with NELTSH AB?

NELTSH Appropriate Body use ECT Manager as our portal for registering and any monitoring of support and monitoring of assessment of ECTs over the course of their two-year induction period. 

To register your ECTs with NELTSH Appropriate Body, you can follow the link here to our ECT Manager page. 

All school in Waltham Forest, Redbridge and Haringey have been sent information about the registration process for 2023-2025 ECTs. The support guide sent can be found here. 

If you have further questions about registering or need any additional help please contact us on ab@neltsh.com

Further information can be found: 

Key Appropriate Body contacts

DfE Response to the Appropriate Body Reform ConsultationDfE Response to the Appropriate Body Reform Consultation

Summary dates for Appropriate Body transition