Teaching assistants in Durham ‘won’t give up’ fight against pay cuts
Teaching assistants in County Durham say they're at breaking point amid reports a looming pay cut won’t go away.
Teaching assistants in County Durham say they won’t give up fight against pay cuts.
Councillors approved plans to terminate the contracts of 2,700 school staff in May and re-employ them on changed conditions.
Up to 23% could be slashed from some TA’s salaries, with the council arguing that most staff will get a 10% reduction in pay as a result of being paid on a term time basis.
The #ValueUs campaign has opposed Durham County Council’s proposals since November 2015.
Our Reporter Emily Reader has this report:
Megan Charlton is a teaching assistant in Durham. She said:
“They claim that we are paid for 37 hours a week 52 weeks a year although we work 32.5 during term time only. However, we have always been salaried staff (not paid by the hour) and our contracts state that our salary is ‘for the 32.5 hours a week you work, holidays will be that of the school’, i.e. we are paid an annual salary divided into 12 equal payments. “Many TAs had already lost their Special Educational Needs allowances of approximately £2,000 a year. The majority of schools are offering extra hours to TAs to bring them up to 37 hours a week, which will reduce their pay cut to 10%. However, not all schools are offering this and many TAs have responsibilities that mean they cannot work the extra hours or will have extra costs because of the extra hours.
“It is not a well-paid job in the first place but many do the job because they love it and because the low salary is balanced by not having childcare costs. In fact, the vast majority of TAs already work far more hours than they are paid for and have done this willingly in the past. However, since these proposals were put forward, many TAs are already refusing to do the extra unpaid hours they have always done, causing problems for schools.”
We’re told councillors have recently been sent an email informing them of a Special Council Meeting on September 14th, with the only subject matter being teaching assistants.
However, the council tell us their resolution in May is still firmly in place. Cllr Jane Brown, cabinet member for corporate services, said:
“All but one council regionally and many nationally have already changed to term-time pay for teaching assistants.
“Our proposals are aimed at providing fairness and parity across our workforce and ensuring that teaching assistants, like other council employees, are paid only for the hours they actually work.
“We have a legal responsibility to resolve this matter and have been in discussions with the unions and teaching assistants for many months and throughout the consultation process.
“Looking ahead we will continue to talk with unions and to clearly communicate the consultation outcome and any next steps to all those affected.”