This Code of conduct has been designed to help staff, senior management and volunteers minimise the risk of being accused of improper conduct towards the young people and adults with whom they come into contact at MMG learning centres.

Introduction

MMG’s reputation and the trust and confidence of the community in its integrity, is of vital importance. It must discharge its day-to-day responsibilities with openness and honesty. This code of conduct is presented to assist staff employed at MMG centres and volunteers (including governors) in carrying out their day-to-day responsibilities in accordance with legal requirements placed upon them and any policies adopted by MMG.

Status of the Code of Conduct

This Code of Conduct applies to all employees of MMG and those individuals volunteering within MMG facilities if applicable. Throughout this document, reference is made to employees referring or reporting issues to the senior management. Where the employee is the CEO of head management, they should report their issues to CFO / alternative directors.

General

Employees of MMG centres should remember their responsibilities to the local community and adopt a courteous, high quality, efficient and impartial approach to all groups and individuals with whom they come into contact in the course of their work.

Employees must carry out their duties objectively, professionally, to the best of their ability and in an impartial manner. Employees are entitled to expect that no other colleagues or senior management are pressured or persuaded to carry out their duties in any other way. Where it is alleged that if such action has taken place, the senior management or CEO will investigate the allegation if requested to do so.

There may be occasions when employees, carrying out their duties for MMG, find themselves at odds with national government advice or guidance. In such circumstances, it is particularly important that they are seen to behave with complete objectivity and impartiality obtain managerial and professional advice and guidance where appropriate. They are entitled to expect to receive the unequivocal support of senior managers in so doing.

As a rule of thumb, employees at MMG should act in accordance with three key guiding principles:

  • Ensure that their conduct complies with these standards, the spirit of these standards, and MMG policies and the law.
  • Ensure that their conduct is never influenced by personal gain.
  • Ensure that their conduct could not give any reasonable person cause to questiontheir motives.

Employees

All employees / senior management have a responsibility to help create and maintain a work environment free of any form of bullying, harassment, victimisation, and discrimination by:

  • Being aware of how their own behaviour may affect others and changing it, if necessary.
  • Treating colleagues with dignity and respect and being aware that individuals can still cause offence even if they are “only joking”.
  • Taking a stand if they think inappropriate jokes or comments are being made.
  • Making it clear to others when they find behaviour of others unacceptable, unless itshould be obvious in advance that this would be the case.
  • Intervening, if possible, to stop bullying, harassment, victimisation, and discriminationand giving support to recipients.
  • Making it clear that they find harassment and bullying unacceptable.
  • Reporting harassment or bullying to MMG senior staff and/or upper management andsupporting MMG in the investigation of complaints; and
  • If a complaint of bullying, harassment, victimisation, and discrimination is made, notprejudging, or victimising the complainant(s) or subject(s) of the complaint.

Management

Managers have specific additional responsibilities to take steps to prevent any form of bullying, harassment, victimisation, and discrimination from occurring by:

    • Setting a good example by their own behaviour.
    • Creating a supportive working environment, where any jokes, remarks or banter thatmight cause offence to another employee on any grounds is not permitted.
    • Properly briefing all their employees as to the types of conduct and speech that mightcause offence to others and make it clear that such behaviour is unacceptable; and
    • Encourage employees to report incidents.

    Managers must intervene to stop bullying, harassment, victimisation and discrimination and deal with any complaint about bullying, harassment, victimisation, or discrimination, seriously, objectively, expeditiously, and confidentially and provide appropriate support to both parties.

    Managers must seek advice on the procedure to be followed, maintain appropriate confidentiality insofar as is legitimately possible and ensure that, after a complaint has been resolved, there are no further problems of bullying, harassment, victimisation, or discrimination. Managers must record all decisions and advice given

    Confidentiality & Openness

    As employees of MMG, individuals may be privy to information which is confidential. Any express or implied responsibility to keep information confidential should be respected by employees and there should be awareness that such responsibility might arise from the nature of the information itself, e.g., child protection disclosure. It will, however, be extremely rare that employees will be unable to share confidences with either senior staff or upper management.

      Employees should not use information obtained in the course of their time at MMG for personal gain or benefit, nor should they pass it on to others who might use it in such a way. When employees are acquainted with confidential information belonging to MMG, they must not disclose that information to any person not authorised to receive it unless such material must by law be made available to specific parties e.g., in child protection cases to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), Police or Social Services and disclosure of financial information to Internal or External Auditors.

      Relationships

      Mutual respect between senior management and staff is essential to good MMG management. Close personal familiarity between individual management and employees should be avoided wherever possible, as it can be detrimental to the relationship and prove embarrassing to other senior managers and employees.

      Senior management should not be solely in charge of pay adjustment, approval of expenses, promotion, or discipline of employees to relatives or close friends.

      Section 16 of The Sexual Offences Act 2003 provides that it is an offence for a person aged 18 or over to have a sexual relationship with a child under 18 where that person is in a position of trust in respect of that child, even if the relationship is consensual.

      Employees and senior management working within MMG centres would be deemed to be in a position of trust and must conduct themselves in accordance with the statutory requirements of the guidance “Keeping Children Safe In Education” (DfE 2019) and must not engage in a staff/pupil relationship that extends beyond the professional requirements of their role in any circumstance. Employees at MMG are required to adhere to the safeguarding and child protection policies set by MMG.

      It should be noted that communicating with pupils who attend MMG classes over social media could be viewed as developing / attempting to develop an inappropriate relationship. As a rule, employees should not engage in communication with pupils of MMG over social media unless explicitly agreed by the parents in writing and for the purpose of fulfilling their professional duties. Of which is incredibly unlikely, as all communications are conducted via parents.

      Relationships between staff members should be made aware to senior management and if possible, should work on alternative shifts to reduce the likely of inappropriate behaviour whilst at work. Secondly, to this if employees who are seeing each other do work together on shift, their behaviour should not be clear of a couple and be made aware to parents or students.

      Political Neutrality

      All employees of MMG are required to be politically neutral and must not allow their own personal or political opinions to interfere with the way in which they carry out their work or duty to implement the policies.

      Under the Education (No 2) Act 1986, senior management and staff are required to ensure that where political issues are brought to the attention of pupils, they are offered a balanced presentation of opposing views.

      Personal Interests

      Employees must declare to Senior Management of financial and any other interests that they consider could bring about direct conflicts with MMG interests, including membership of any organisation does not open to the public which requires of members any form of commitment or allegiance, and which has secrecy about rules and membership or conduct.

      Other Employment

      Senior management of MMG will not unreasonably stop employees from undertaking additional employment, but such employment must not, in the view of the MMG, conflict with or act in a way which is detrimental to MMG’s interest or have the effect of weakening public confidence in the proper conduct of MMG services.

      Senior Management expect that all staff employed by MMG will give full commitment to its services whilst employed there and will not take up other employment which may directly impact on their ability to fulfil their contractual requirements.

      Gifts & Hospitality

      A potential source of conflict between private and public interests is the offer of gifts, hospitality, or benefits in kind to employees in connection with their official duties.

      Apart from the exceptions listed below, an employee of MMG should refuse any personal gift offered to him or her or to any family member by any person or organisation who is involved with MMG. Any such offer should be reported to Senior Management.

      These exceptions are:

      1. (a) Gifts of a token value often given at Christmas time such as diaries, confectionery, calendars, pens etc, and popular activities or by children at Christmas or the end of an academic/term year or after a particular event or end of working at MMG as a goodbye present.
      2. (b) Gifts of a promotional nature at the end of working for MMG for goodbye purposes.

      Employees should only accept offers of hospitality including invitations to functions, meals, and site visits if there is a genuine need to impart or receive information or represent the school and/or the community. If personal connections are made between customers and employees, these connections should be made aware to senior management and usually given permission via written acceptance. Remember when making these connections to ensure that personal relationships don’t intrude or impact MMG services and its ability to give high standards of education.

      As well as receiving gifts, staff should also be aware of the potential issues in relation to providing gifts to children. In normal circumstances gifts should not be given to individual children as this could, unintentionally, be viewed as extending or attempting to extend a relationship beyond the professional requirements of the role. As such, if you feel a gift is appropriate, explicit agreement should be gained from senior management with the regards and reasons of the nature of any gift.

      Equal Opportunities

      MMG is committed to ensuring equal opportunities in employment and provision of education and believes that an effective equal opportunities policy is an essential means of increasing the value of its personnel by developing the potential of all its individual employees. MMG’s equal opportunities policy is designed to ensure that no employee or job applicant should receive less favourable treatment than another because of a protected characteristic as defined by the Equality Act 2010 i.e., age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy & maternity, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. All employees must comply with both the spirit and letter of the Equality Act and MMG’s equal opportunities policy and treat all members of the public with respect and fairness.

      Employees should be fully aware of MMG’s commitment to equal opportunities and the employment of disabled persons.

      Employees should note that the following acts may be unlawful as well as constituting misconduct liable to disciplinary action (which could in some cases include dismissal):

      1. Discriminating improperly in the course of their employment against members of the public, clients, stakeholders, fellow employees, job applicants or in respect of job transfer or promotion applications, because of a protected characteristic as listed above.
      2. Instructing, causing, or inducing, or attempting to induce, staff and senior management to practice unlawful discrimination.
      3. Verbal or physical harassment of a nature that is offensive to the victim.
      4. Victimising individuals who have made allegations or complaints of discrimination or harassment or who have provided information about such discrimination or harassment.

      For its part, MMG will investigate any allegation of discrimination or harassment and will act as appropriate.

      Health & Safety

      MMG share a legal obligation to protect the health, safety, and welfare at work of all its employees and others in the workplace. Equally, employees should always be aware of and fulfil their legal responsibility to protect their own and others health, safety, and welfare at work.

      Post-Employment

      The duty of fidelity which each employee owes to MMG, and which requires an employee to act in an honest fashion and not in a manner which will harm MMG may, in certain respects, continue following the end of the employee’s employment. For example, even though they are no longer employed by the school, a former employee must not disclose confidential information which belongs to MMG.

      Certain employees may have access to intellectual property (such as copyright and materials which belong to MMG). An employee might even have contributed to the creation of that intellectual property during a period of employment. However, where part or whole of that property belongs to MMG it cannot be used by a former employee for any purpose without the agreement of MMG as appropriate.

      Additional Requirement

      Although this code of conduct highlights overall expectations, staff are also expected to be aware of, and adhere to, other key legislation, professional standards, policies, procedures, and guidance to effectively carryout their duties during their employment. Of particular importance we would highlight the following documents and advise staff and volunteers to familiarise themselves with them where appropriate to their role:

      – MMG’s Safeguarding Protocols and Policies that adhere to keeping children safe and the employee contract which outlines employees’ responsibilities and attitude to work.

      Signed: ……………….

      Role: ………………….

      Date: ………………….

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