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Occupational Health Service for Schools & Academy Trusts
Independent clinical advice, confidential support for your staff and honest wellbeing data, so you can manage absence, meet your legal duties and intervene before problems escalate.
Get in touchRelated services:
HR Strategic Support | Employee Relations & Conflict Resolution | HR Advisory Service
20+ years
experience supporting
schools and MATs
1,200+
schools and academies
trust us with their HR
85%
SBMs rate us higher
than other providers
77%
headteachers report
improved school operations
Supporting mental health and wellbeing for a healthier workforce
Schools and trusts face rising pressure to comply with employee health legislation, reduce absence and support staff mental health, usually all at once and usually without a clinician in the building.
Judicium Education offer expert clinical guidance, early intervention and tailored wellbeing support to help you address health concerns, manage employee absence and give staff the right support at the right time.
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Independent clinical advice on work and health.
Occupational health gives you impartial advice on the effect of work on an employee's health, and the effect a health condition or injury is likely to have on their ability to work. It is one of the most useful tools a school has for managing absence well and supporting staff properly.
+ What occupational health can assess and advise on
- An individual's fitness to undertake a specific role, through pre-employment screening
- When an employee is likely to be well enough to return after a period of absence
- Whether any adaptations are needed to facilitate their return
- Whether an employee may be eligible for ill-health retirement under applicable pension schemes
- Ergonomics, specialist equipment for staff with disabilities and workplace adjustments
- Health promotion campaigns, policies and procedures, and vaccinations
Through expert clinical guidance, early intervention strategies, and tailored wellbeing support, we help schools address health concerns, manage employee absence, and provide the right support for their staff.
Our Occupational Health Service, in partnership with Optima Health, is designed to help schools and trusts meet their legal responsibilities while improving staff attendance and wellbeing.
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Confidential support for your staff, around the clock.
Poor staff health doesn't only raise sickness absence costs, it drives turnover and makes it harder to recruit and retain good people. EAPs give your staff somewhere to turn before that point and have been proven to reduce stress, improve attendance, and support healthy, engaged employees.
Judicium Education's Employee Assistance Programme partnership with SmartClinic is the most cost-effective way of promoting staff health and wellbeing in your school.
- A confidential freephone helpline, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for employees and their families
- Expert advice on personal, family, financial and legal issues
- Telephone assessment with a trained counsellor, followed by up to six sessions of telephone, face-to-face or online CBT as clinically appropriate
- An EAP website and information library for both employees and managers
- The Optimise wellbeing platform, with four health risk assessments and a wealth of wellbeing resources
All support is completely confidential, giving staff the confidence to seek help without fear of judgement or workplace repercussions.
Find out what your staff actually think.
Judicium Education's Staff Health & Wellbeing Survey is a user-friendly online survey designed specifically for the education sector, giving you an honest picture of how your people are doing and where the pressure sits, so wellbeing spend goes where it will make a difference.
+ What the survey covers and what you get
- Job satisfaction
- Communication and workplace relationships
- Work-life balance
- Overall health and wellbeing
- A comprehensive, customised report analysing the results with actionable recommendations
- Or choose Wellbeing Survey Light: a raw data report including charts, plus anonymised respondent comments
Fully aligned with the DfE Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, we also offer expert support with developing your health and wellbeing strategy to improve the wellbeing of staff in your school.
Why schools and academy trusts choose Judicium for their occupational health & wellbeing services
What’s included
Clinical expertise, mental health support and wellbeing insight in one service
From pre-employment screening through to counselling, anxiety management and staff-wide wellbeing surveys, everything you need to manage staff health sits under one arrangement.
Access instant specialist advice on staff health, absence management and workplace adjustments, backed by a dedicated online portal available 24/7 with guidance, compliance updates and best practice for school leaders.
Discounted new starter health assessments confirm a candidate is fit for the role, with tailored screening and certification, plus 10% off all occupational health referrals and services.
Get up to six confidential counselling or CBT sessions covering stress, anxiety, bereavement and workplace challenges, plus specialist-led anxiety management with self-referral or employer-referral routes.
Receive flexible, self-paced online CBT training across eight interactive sessions, so your leaders and managers can recognise and respond to staff mental health needs with confidence.
Why it matters
What independent occupational health support delivers for schools and trusts
01
Act early, before absence happens
Confidential counselling, anxiety support and staff-wide wellbeing data let you intervene before things escalate.
02
Get people back to work sooner, safely
Independent advice on fitness for work, likely return dates and the adjustments that make a return stick.
03
Make decisions you can defend
Impartial clinical opinion supports your duties under employment and disability legislation, including ill-health retirement questions.
Testimonials
People Matters Thought Leadership Series
People Matters is our bold, people-first thought leadership platform where education leaders explore people, policy and payroll challenges in true, trusted partnership.
“Conversations for the Unapologetically Curious...”
- A bold, people-first thought leadership platform exploring the real issues shaping the education sector today
- For leaders and change-makers covering people, policy and payroll across schools and trusts
- A trusted space to share ideas, challenge thinking and build confidence through change
Judicium HR Training Programme
The Judicium HR Training Programme is our practical, term-by-term training portfolio where school leaders build the confidence and know-how to manage people well at every stage of the employee lifecycle.
Access the right training, at the right time, all year round...
- A structured programme of CPD-accredited sessions and short briefings following the rhythm of the academic year
- For leaders, headteachers, governors, and line managers handling HR across schools and trusts
- A practical space to master the essentials, tackle challenges and make confident, compliant decisions
Case Study
How Griffin Schools Trust turned 13 schools into one strategic HR function
When Griffin Schools Trust - 13 primary and secondary schools and around 700 staff across the Midlands and South East - moved their HR and employment law support to Judicium in spring 2025, each school was still running on different contracts, payroll and processes inherited from years of independent growth.
Read the case study
Free Download
HR Resource
A Guide to Cutting Costs by Managing Teacher Absence
A detailed guide helping headteachers, school business managers and HR managers stay one step ahead when it comes to managing staff absence effectively.
What's inside the guide
- What the national data says about scale and cost, and how to benchmark your own position
- How to write an absence policy that holds up, and how to run return-to-work interviews
- When to use Occupational Health, and how to act fairly and reasonably while managing cost
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Frequently asked questions about Occupational Health and Wellbeing services
Independent, impartial advice on the effect of work on an employee's health and the effect their health is likely to have on their ability to work. That typically covers fitness for a specific role, when they are likely to be well enough to return, and what adaptations would help.
Occupational health is a clinical assessment you commission, usually about a specific employee and a specific question. An EAP is an always-on confidential service your staff access themselves, covering counselling and advice on personal, family, financial and legal issues. Most schools benefit from both.
Through the EAP, staff can call the confidential freephone helpline 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Telephone assessment with a trained counsellor is followed by up to six sessions of telephone, face-to-face or online CBT where clinically appropriate.
Yes. Occupational health can assess and advise on whether an employee may be eligible for ill-health retirement under the applicable pension scheme, which is one of the more difficult judgements a school should not be making alone.
You receive a comprehensive, customised report analysing the results with actionable recommendations. The Wellbeing Survey Light option returns a raw data report including charts plus anonymised respondent comments, so individual staff are not identifiable.