To be absolutely gutted at getting the lowest payrise in the organisation?

[MassageGun]

I am the only person, out of 130 staff to be getting less than 5%.

I have a senior support staff role on a school, the most senior. It's a tough job juggling conflicting priorities and basically any problem that isn't directly related to teaching and learning lands on my desk. I do a good job and always get excellent reviews. Pay is comparable to an upper scale teacher without allowances.

This year teachers are getting a minimum of 5% with some of the lower paid getting more. Good.

Support staff points are all getting the same amount in pounds. For some staff this is up to 10%, also good for the lowest paid, but doing it that way means that people higher up the scale get a lower %.

I'm happy that ridiculously low paid staff will be getting a decent rise for a change, but to be getting significantly less than anyone else in the organisation, including some paid a lot more than me is really hard to take.

It's no one at the school's fault (LA school tied to national payscales) but to say I'm feeling unvauled and unmotivated would be putting it mildly.

AIBU and how do I get over it?

I’m not sure how this all works but you say it’s tied to LA rather than the school so isn’t it just the way it is? No-one in the school is undervaluing you or making any negative judgements on you at all as they haven’t made the decision. It sounds a bit woe is me quite honestly when you’ve got a pay rise of almost £2k

Well individuals aren’t really considered when it’s a national pay award, they don’t sit there and think we should increase pay by £1925. Oh hold on that’s not fair because of a specific individual.

You are taking it personally when it could not be any less personal.

FWIW your pro raga holiday pay will go up too soon as an additional day of annual leave has been agreed for next year.

I know, for a change schools, are getting a proper payrise. That's a reflection on how hard it to retain staff, except me, apparently.

We're not though, we're getting a real terms pay cut over 5% when inflation is taken into account.

That's why we are balloting for strike action. I understand your union accepted your pay offer, so your beef is with them for not standing up for you.

It is shit. But teachers aren't getting a good deal either and are also unhappy with the situation.

If it helps you feel better, remember your pay rise will be substantially more than most of the support staff because the £1925 is the raise for full time roles only. Anyone on a term time only part time salary, which as you’ll know is most support staff in most schools, will be given much less. The difference in my take home pay is actually less than £30 per month.

I'm on a part time (term time) contract too. My site managers and a couple of others will get more cash than I do.

Op you asked how to get over it, people are explaining that it’s not personal etc and that’s it’s not a bad pay rise etc but you’re determined to continue complaining about people getting more than you.
you need to make peace with it or leave, they’re really your only options

This. Stunned at what I’m reading. It’s all but but but. Either get over it or quit. That’s it.

Yes, obviously it's not the only issue I'm facing currently, but it does feel like the final straw. I'm sorely tempted to take my six months' sick leave and retire, which is an attitude that shocks me myself, having been thoroughly contientious my entire life.

SBM on TTO? Really? How do you do Year end, Safer Recruitment procedures over the summer and everything else if you're not there for the times that they're most likely to crop up?

I've never met a poor one before, either. It's always been a case of the biggest Mercedes in the car park.

You've always been paid more than anybody else in support - just because you're only getting 5%, it doesn't change the fact you're still earning more than everyone else.

So you’d take 6 months sick leave in protest and leave the school in the shit because of a pay decision that they didn’t even make??

I have been applying for other jobs, but after a lifetime of pretty much being successful every time I applied, I'm finding it harder now, which I'm putting down to being in my 50s

I started to be concerned about this as I reached my 60s, but haven't found it an issue in the slightest.
Try not to think about it, review your CV and make sure you don't come across as stuck in your ways.

Another issue with across the board percentage uplifts can be keeping up with minimum and living wage levels - I work for a small charity, the London Living Wage increased by 8% this year, there is no way we could afford that across the board without redundancies.

I'm getting less than 5%. I'm not paid more than everyone else, others with similar responsibilities are paid a lot more (I have 20 line reports and as you say, safeguarding responsibilities). The role is undervalued though and one of the hardest in schools to fill/retain. I'm constantly asked to help out local schools whose SBM is either long term sick or has left.

I'd bet that any SBMs with 'the biggest Mecedes' are doing the job for pin money because their DH has a good job. Or work in Acadamies.

I do term time plus three weeks. Year end is in April, most of the recruitment paperwork is done before we break up in July. Premises work is the only reason I need to be there in holidays, but thanks for your concern 😆

Not just because of that, no. As I said, final straw.

I'm in local government and also frustrated that people on my, higher grade are getting 3% while the lower grades are getting 9%. Not a race to the bottom, I don't begrudge them their raise but think it should be across the board.

The higher grades also have to contribute a higher % to the pension scheme as well, to not have an increased benefit, and I'll go into that bracket this year so the 3% will be wiped out immediately!

So you're support staff but get paid similar amounts to a teacher on the UPS? 🤔
If I've read that correctly then you need to stop moaning 😅

Yes, some kind of drip feed which you didn’t mention earlier on in the thread. You posted about the payrise. You’d be incredibly unreasonable to go off sick for 6 months and then resign because the govt didn’t give you a pay rise. I’m not saying the govt manage their money well but paying 6 months sick pay to someone who has gone off in a strop won’t help the public purse

Applications I know are strong aren't even getting interviews.

It's a market.

The offer is what they are prepared to pay you and the answer if it doesn't suit you is to find another role which suits you better.

Keep trying snd network furiously. There will be better roles out there for you, you just need to find them.

People voting to accept the pay offer doesn't mean "the union" isn't sticking up for its members. They are representing the views of the majority of their members.

It would be totally wrong, and actually illegal, for unison and GMB to push for strike action that their members don't support.

It's the same in the NHS. Having a fixed amount for all rather than a % fucked over the higher bands

Why? I am equally well qualified and have loads more responsibility than a class teacher.

People voting to accept the pay offer doesn't mean "the union" isn't sticking up for its members.

The union is its members. The people in the union voted to accept an offer which represents a significant real terms pay cut those at the top of the pay scale.

I would hope that my teaching colleagues on the lower rungs of the main pay scale won't just vote to accept an offer that's 8.9% for them, but lower for more experienced teachers because they're ok.

I do exactly the same job OP and 100% know what you are saying. Our job role has changed so much in these last few years. I feel like I'm having a nervous break down sometimes with the amount of work I have to do and the responsibility. And it is always our job if no one knows who should be doing it. Literally cover every part of school for everyone else but if I'm not there my job doesn't get done at all. I welcome the pay rise for all of us, and it will come in extremely useful but I still don't feel like I'm paid anywhere near to what I should be paid for the job and the responsibility

At our place there is a set cost of living payment being paid to everyone except the top band, which means I am not getting it. I am conscious that being in the top band makes me very lucky, and I have no issue not getting the payment.

You aren’t getting less of a pay rise than the others - you are getting the same as the other none-teachers. Try to think of it like that. In £ in the pocket terms, you are getting the same. Yes it is then reduced by a pro-rata amount as you dont work full time but that’s just a consequence of working part time (and you presumably aren’t expecting to get the same ££ as people who work full time).

They are trying to give the most % help to those on the lowest wages, it’s hard to be angry about that, surely!

^They are trying to give the most % help to those on the lowest wages, it’s hard to be angry about that, surely!

A pay rise isn't about 'help', it's about financial renumeration for a job. The OP will be paid far less next year in real terms (inflation is that same for those higher up the pay scale as lower down) for doing the same job (or, given the state of schools, probably a harder job), than she is this year.

It's easy to be angry about that.

A friend of mine works for a company where everyone is being given £1000 on top of normal pay award for cost of living increases. That’s everyone, part time, full time, high paid or low paid. I think that’s amazing. If they’d given people a percentage then those on higher wages would have got a much higher amount. I think it’s refreshing that lower paid staff are being considered more than traditional % increases