London School Staff 'Weighting for Change' Campaign put in Motion
London Assembly Members back GMB's 'Weighting for Change' campaign to tackle the unfairness in how some London Boroughs apply Inner and Outer London Weighting.
A campaign led by London school support staff to make their pay fairer has received the backing of London Assembly Members at a recent meeting (7th December, 2023). The ‘Weighting for Change’ campaign aims to tackle the unfairness in how some London Boroughs apply Inner and Outer London Weighting.
School support staff, often make up more than 50% of school staff, and include cleaners, cooks, teaching assistants, business managers and caretakers. Despite carrying out some of the most valuable and vital roles, which include supporting children with special educational needs, support staff are the lowest paid workers in a school.
London Weighting rates differ between Inner and Outer London Boroughs but some schools in Outer London pay teachers the Inner London Weighting rate. This is grossly unfair and can mean a difference in the rate of London Weighting being paid between teachers and support staff in the same school of over £1000 . There are 7 Boroughs where this unjust anomaly is happening - Barking and Dagenham, Brent, Ealing, Greenwich, Haringey, Merton and Newham.
School support staff are already disadvantaged because they are on term-time only contracts, which means they do not get paid for approximately 8 weeks a year, and this disparity in the rate of London Weighting paid by some schools is just another example of how they are not valued or recognised for the work they do. Not only has low pay resulted in substantial financial pressure on support staffs’ families but it has also led to a recruitment and retention crisis of teaching assistants.
The motion which passed London’s Assembly calls on Sadiq Khan, as Mayor of London, to lobby for greater parity in London weighting rates for public sector employees and to end the mismatch in London weighting for staff working in the same school in the 7 boroughs where this occurs . Further, the motion agreed to push for the introduction of an independent pay board to fairly set London weighting so that all employers can benchmark their rates.
The motion originated from a campaign started by members of GMB union, one of Britain’s largest trade unions, and was proposed by Unmesh Desai AM.
Warren Kenny, GMB London’s Regional Secretary said:
“School support staff play a vital role in the education of our children. Greater standardisation in London weighting is imperative to improve recruitment and retention of key public sector workers, but also it is a necessity to provide dignity in the cost-of-living crisis”.
“Tens of thousands of our school support members in London worked throughout the pandemic, they deal with workplace assaults and abuse regularly. However, our members do the job because they passionately care about education, but they cannot be expected to live on goodwill alone”.
Unmesh Desai AM said:
“I proposed this motion after hearing the experiences of GMB school members who in 7 London boroughs are paid the unfair London weighting rates.
"It shouldn’t be the case that two people in the same workplace have two different London weighting rates. London weighting was a scheme designed to ease the additional cost burden of living and working in our city, rather than compound it”.
For more information please contact Lisa Bangs, Senior Organiser on 07970262360
