Teachers and support staff at the risk of redundancy in Caerphilly could be redeployed to other borough schools as part of one new policy approved by the council.
The strategy, known as a school specific strategy, could see funds earmarked for redundancy re-directed into schools, should a vacancy arise.
A second policy was also approved, a voluntary severance scheme, which would see applicants put themselves forward for redundancy.
It would be introduced to work alongside the council’s voluntary early retirement (VER) initiative.
One major difference is the severance scheme could attract applicants of all ages to the process unlike VER which generally attracts those closer to state pension age.
Caerphilly County Borough Council’s cabinet agreed to introduce the strategies on Wednesday.
They will become options available to the authority’s education human resources team.
Councillor David Poole, the leader of the council, said the proposals would not only help schools but also teachers and other staff looking to remain among the workforce.
He said: “I read this, and I thought: ‘why haven’t we done it before?’
“It seems so sensible. It means that we are helping schools with their budgets at the same time it’s helping staff to stay in employment.
“It ticks every box with me. It’s got my 100% support.”
As part of the policies, the VER and voluntary severance schemes would be offered to staff as part of the first phase of staff consultations following a redundancy situation.
If neither the VER nor the voluntary severance scheme were applicable to candidates, the school specific strategy would then come into effect.
Members were given a hypothetical example of a teacher receiving a £30,000 redundancy package but another school in Caerphilly was seeking a redeployment opportunity.
Under the school specific strategy, the teacher could be approached by the school to fill the vacancy and money from the redundancy package could be re-directed to the school for the offer of employment.
The council’s education human resources team will now consult with headteachers to recommend the new strategies to schools following cabinet approval.