What to do this term
- Decide whether to sign the charter. If you do, agree with staff which commitments come first.
- Measure staff wellbeing with a recognised tool and share the results with staff (charter commitment 11). The charter page lists tools, including Education Support’s staff wellbeing audit.
- Write down when staff are, and are not, expected to answer messages out of hours (commitment 4).
- Ask governors or trustees for a plan for leaders’ own wellbeing, including access to confidential counselling or coaching where needed (commitment 10).
- Make sure staff know about Education Support’s free 24-hour helpline for education staff, linked from the charter page.
This page is about schools in England. It does not cover Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
The documents that apply
- Education staff wellbeing charter, the DfE’s, first published in May 2021; the page was last updated on 8 May 2024. Signing is voluntary, open to every state-funded school and college, and decided by the senior leadership team. A signatory commits to a long-term staff wellbeing strategy built on 11 organisational commitments.
- Ofsted’s school inspection toolkit, version 2.0 for inspections from 7 September 2026. Under leadership and governance, inspectors consider whether leaders take account of staff wellbeing and protect staff from bullying, unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and whether governors or trustees consider leaders’ wellbeing.
- Keeping children safe in education 2026, paragraphs 226 to 231, for pupils. Mental health problems can in some cases become safeguarding concerns, and most schools have a mental health lead who embeds a whole-school approach.
Common pitfalls
- Planning wellbeing activities without the charter’s commitments on unnecessary workload and behaviour (6 and 8). Our workload page has the STPCD paragraphs.
- Expecting line managers to give professional wellbeing support they are not trained for. The charter says they should not, and asks for clear routes to escalate (commitment 3).
- Measuring wellbeing and keeping the results to the leadership team. Commitment 11 asks for transparency.
- Staff trying to diagnose a pupil’s mental health problem. Only appropriately trained professionals should (KCSIE paragraph 228).
