teaching assistants in durham to get 23% pay cut?

[StealthPolarBear]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-36305132

Presume this won't affect academies.

[StealthPolarBear]

Bump.

[StandoutMop]

I'd imagine academy TAs are already on term time only contracts.

I'm surprised the council ones aren't already tbh. Around here its pro rata for term time and usually only for under 6 hrs a day so no paid breaks.

[StealthPolarBear]

Really :(

[OddBoots]

I read the schoolsweek article and it look like they have been being paid for working 37h a week 52 weeks a year when they only work 32.5h a week 38 weeks a year. They would be entitled to around 4 weeks holiday pay but I really don't understand why they were ever paid for working so many more hours than they work! Just how much school money has been thrown away doing this over the years!

[TheWhompingWilly]

I thought term time contracts were the norm anyway. They certainly are around here. We do get paid every month but it's your annual term time salary divided into 12 equal payments. I don't know a single teaching assistant who is the main breadwinner in their family. You simply can't live on it.

[BoneyBackJefferson]

The TAs here are paid por-rata

[StealthPolarBear]

Looks like it's fairly normal then. I do feel sorry for the people who will be affected and I suspect in durham it's possible to buy a house on a ta salary

[stupidgreatgrinonmyface]

It's been the norm here, for many years, that you only get paid for the hours we actually work plus the legal holiday requirement. So, at my school that's 26 hours a week for 39 + 5 weeks paid in 12 monthly instalments (5 weeks holiday includes the extra entitlement for long service). I feel sorry for those who will lose money, but it sounds as though they've been aid very generously up to now. Disclaimer, I am NOT saying TAs are well paid - I've been one long enough to know that we are not, just saying that this group of TAs seem to have been paid generously compared to most other areas.

[Hulababy]

They already are term time here. It changed a few years back. Those on much older contracts kept some of their terms and conditions, inc some pay, but newer staff didn't. At my school no one is on the old terms and pay anymore though.

I think it's term time plus 4 weeks holiday often.
And pro rats right down to exact hours. Often meetings etc have to be dealt with with management in school - our tas are expected to attend meetings after school but the time comes out of lunch time - so a one hour meeting means the ta gets two one hour lunch breaks a week instead of all 30 minute ones. Don't get paid for 15 min morning break either.

[StealthPolarBear]

It sounds crap tbh

[MissMargie]

TAs in Dumfriesshire have all gone!
Lost their jobs a few months ago.

Good ol' SNP - education is at the forefront of their policies for this term in office

[cathf]

I struggle to understand the logic of their argument tbh.
I understand they are annoyed at losing pay - who wouldn't be? - but I don't think they have a leg to stand on as it looks as if this 'pay cut' will bring them in line with the rest of the UK.
I know this us an old thread but this week is strike week!

[ReallyTired]

The question is whether TAs get equal pay for equal work. Is being a TA more skilled than being a dustman? Is the job of being a TA as challenging as being the caretaker?

In Hertfordshire all roles are Hay graded. The consider how unpleasant the job is, outside working, manual lifting as well s intellectual challenge.

[cathf]

I don't think that is the question here ReallyTired. It's more like: Do do dustmen who work 39 weeks in the year get paid for 39 weeks or get paid for 52?
My understanding is that by some historical quirk, TAs in County Durham get paid as if they work for the full year, when in fact they only work for part of it.
The argument is that if this were allowed to continue, it would open the door to claims from other part-time council workers to be paid accordingly.
So at the moment, someone working in an admin role for term-time only is paid for term-time only. He/she could argue that they should be paid for a whole year, as that is what the TAs get.

[lougle]

I'm baffled. In Hants TAs are only paid term time, although they get their salary paid in 12 equal installments. That's because they only work term time.

[cathf]

I agree lougle, but emotions are running high in County Durham! As I said, I can understand the TAs irate at losing a chunk of their pay, but really it's pay they should not gave had in the first place.
I think they are wasting their time protesting as really they haven't got a leg to stand on, and very noticeably, no support from T As outside the county, who are probably wondering what all the fuss is about!

[Ditsy4]

It happened to us several years ago. They changed the full time 32.5 hr contract to 37 hrs and took away the half pay retainer we had. We can't work for all 52 weeks because the school is closed whereas dustbin men have rubbish all year.
We fought ours and after 18 mths they paid us 7.5 % less instead of the 25% they were trying to take off us(HLTAs) so after all those years of working and studying that's what we were worth. The ones at the bottom received a pay rise. Our county lost a lot of good people.
I'm surprised it hasn't happened before they must be the last county to do so. Good luck to them. We should never have been lumped together with the other council workers. We do a completely different job. Teachers are treated differently and so should we be.

[StealthPolarBear]

Tas across the country have had their salaries cut in one go? Surprised this wasn't bigger news

[ego147]

TAs should be paid for the work they do - and the hourly rate should reflect that. I know you need to think about holiday pay and bank holidays as well - something that is more complicated with term time only contracts but TAs are contracted to work a certain amount of hours per week term time only.

I was surprised to read that Durham TAs seemed to be paid a lot more than other TAs for doing the same job in the same hours.