Unions issue final warning to school academy chain over cutbacks

An academy chain with schools in the East Midlands and Yorkshire & Humberside is facing possible action from eight education unions over plans to axe support staff. The unions – representing headteachers, teachers, teaching assistants and school support staff – have issued the David Ross Education Trust (DRET) with a final warning after the failure to reach an agreement over proposed cuts. Talks will now take place at conciliation service ACAS. The chain is proposing to cut nearly £1m in funding from school budgets and up to 40 jobs from across its 32 primary and secondary schools. In an unprecedented move, the eight unions have written to DRET’s founder David Ross urging him to put planned cuts on hold. The changes come after the trust has already increased charges to schools for services such as payroll and IT. A survey of employees across the academy chain suggests staff believe the proposed redundancies will damage the smooth running of schools, and harm pupils’ education. With fewer staff like caretakers, receptionists and administrative staff on hand to deal with problems, teaching assistants would be regularly called out of the classroom, say unions, which would be hugely disruptive to lessons. UNISON head of education Jon Richards said: “Academies were meant to give schools more control, yet across the DRET chain, headteachers, parents and staff have been misled. Vital jobs will be lost, extra work created, pupils disrupted and overworked staff put unde...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - Category: Occupational Health Authors: Tags: News Press release education Source Type: news