Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Teachers will be sacked if we raise pay
Unions fear cuts after Tory pledge
SCHOOLS face having to axe staff to afford teacher pay rises, heads warn today.
Under a recent Government pay settlement, teachers will get up to 3.5% extra, which ministers have boasted is “fully funded” through a £508million grant.
But an open letter from four union chiefs to PM Theresa May and Chancellor Philip Hammond says schools must cover the first 1% from their own budgets, already at “breaking point”.
Without extra funding, they fear schools will have to cut working hours or make staff redundant to afford it.
Kevin Courtney, of the National Education Union, said: “We had to write this letter to put a stop to the misinformation the teacher pay award has been fully funded.” Paul Whiteman, of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the £508million funding for the pay award would come from existing Department for Education budgets. He added: “There’s no new money.” The unions also say while the lowest-paid teachers will get 3.5% extra, some 60%, will get below-inflation rises of 1.5% or 2% – after real terms pay cuts of 10% since 2005. And they insist that while the Tories claim schools are receiving “more money than ever”, funding has been slashed in real terms by 8% per pupil over eight years.
Angela Rayner, Shadow Education Secretary, last night said: “Theresa May should listen when the people who teach our children say that our schools simply cannot cope with more austerity.
“Instead, she has overseen cuts to budgets and refused to fully fund the pay award teachers need after years of real terms cuts.”
LEADERS of school teachers and heads uniting to demand fairer funding exposes Conservative Government fibs about spending enough to educate our children.
The 8% cut per pupil in the years the Tories have been in power accounts for staff losing jobs and begging letters to parents asking for help with everything from pensions to loo rolls.
Education is a sound investment in the future. And penny-pinching Conservatives must admit the truth about the indefensible damage they’re inflicting on our kids’ futures.
Either properly fund schools or this Government should make way for a party that will.