2,500 assaults on council staff in last 3 years

FRONT-LINE council employees in north and mid Wales have been subject to more than 2,500 physical and verbal assaults in the last three years, an investigation has found.

Almost half of the 2,619 reported assaults took place on staff working at the region’s schools (1,193), leading to calls for more to be done to protect teachers and other educational support workers while performing their day to day duties.

The figures, obtained via freedom of information requests, revealed that the highest number of assaults took place in Gwynedd, where 838 incidents involving violence on council staff were reported between 2015/16 and 2017/18. Some 315 of these were on teachers and other school support staff.

Several authorities did not hold information on how many of the incidents were passed on to police, but Anglesey Council confirmed that none were.

A spokesperson for Gwynedd Council pointed out the figures included reports of violence by individuals under care and children under 18.

“The council takes the health, safety and welfare of our staff very seriously,” she said. “We do not tolerate violence against staff members, and we encourage them to record all instances of verbal or physical attacks. All reported threats against staff are thoroughly investigated, and action taken to control risks.”

The General Secretary of teaching union, the NASUWT, has called for more safeguards to protect teaching staff. Chris Keates said: “No teacher or other worker should go to work with an expectation they should tolerate violence and abuse. Yet evidence shows teachers are not receiving the support to tackle these issues.”

Margaret Thomas, Asst General Secretary of Unison, said: “UNISON members, like school support staff, social workers, refuse workers, librarians and many more are proud to serve the public and no-one should be in fear whilst at work or return home injured.”