Labour has been accused of sidelining dinner ladies in a ‘disgusting’ move to fund teachers’ pay rises.
The GMB union is furious that a saving made from the school support staff pension scheme is being diverted away – despite individual pensions remaining unaffected.
The windfall is going to be spent on fully funding a pay rise for teachers, but the union is arguing it should go towards boosting support staff pay and benefits instead.
GMB’s 100,000 school support staff members include dinner ladies, caretakers, receptionists, librarians and teaching assistants – who are the ‘poorest paid group in education,’ it said.
Support staff are only getting a 3.3 per cent pay rise this year, while teachers are getting 3.5 per cent.
The row erupted after it emerged a surplus in the Local Government Pension Scheme means schools can make employment contributions of, on average, 4.9 per cent less this year for support staff members.
This will not result in any cut or adverse effect on individual members’ pensions.
Lucy Powell, the Education Secretary, revealed yesterday that schools will be able to use the savings to fund this year’s teacher pay rise.
Labour has been accused of sidelining dinner ladies in a ‘disgusting’ move to fund teachers’ pay rises (pictured: Education Secretary Lucy Powell)
However, today, Stacey Booth, GMB national officer, said: ‘School support staff are already paid a pittance for nurturing, feeding and helping to educate our children.
‘To take money from their pensions to give others a pay rise is completely disgusting.
‘Ministers should be ashamed of themselves – if they can’t fund a pay rise they should have the guts to admit it rather than stealing the money of others.
‘Meanwhile anyone who celebrates a pay rise that takes money away from the poorest paid group in education is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and should take a long hard look at themselves.’
The GMB said it was going to meet Ms Powell to voice concerns its members had been sidelined.
Yesterday’s announcement from Ms Powell came in response to the National Education Union (NEU), which is mostly made up of teachers, threatening strikes over their pay rise not being ‘fully funded’.
Schools had originally been expected to fund roughly half the pay rise from their existing budgets, raising concerns over staff cuts.
A formal strike ballot had been planned for this autumn, with walk-outs expected after Christmas.
However, under the new arrangement, around £500million will be made available from the pension scheme savings, meaning there will no longer be a shortfall.
The GMB union is furious that a saving made from the school support staff pension scheme is being diverted away – despite individual pensions remaining unaffected (file picture)
NEU General Secretary Daniel Kebede said today of the GMB comments: ‘Not one support staff pension has been cut – this is a fall in what employers pay in, set independently by actuaries because these funds are healthier than expected.
‘Our fight from day one was for a fully funded pay rise for the whole school workforce, and this is a win on exactly those terms: support staff were most of the 8,300 jobs we warned were at risk from an unfunded award, and it’s the NEU’s campaign and the threat of strike action which has now ensured this money stays in the school system.’
The Local Government Pension Scheme is a defined benefits scheme and relies on contributions from both employers and employees.
It is separate from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, which is for teachers only.
A DfE spokesman said: ‘Supporting the whole school workforce remains a priority for this Government, and the recent pay awards and funding will benefit teachers, teaching assistants and support staff alike.
‘The recent local government pension scheme valuation reduces what schools have to pay into the scheme as employers, but it does not reduce the pension benefits support staff receive.
‘This has the overall effect of supporting the whole school budget.’
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