Fear jobs will need to be cut to fund teachers’ rise
SCHOOLS will have to cut jobs to fund a pay rise for teachers unless the government funds it, school leaders and unions warn.
The Welsh Government confirmed teachers in Wales will get the 3.5% pay award announced by the UK Government – but no extra funds have been announced to pay for it.
With school deficits running into millions of pounds across Wales, pupils’ education will suffer if more money has to be found, the organisation representing head teachers in Wales said.
The Association of School and College Leaders Cymru estimates half of all Wales’ secondary schools are in deficit, with one a massive £1m in the red.
As schools struggle to make ends meet, redundancies have already been made this academic year and teachers have walked out in strikes over job cuts across Wales.
Members of the NASUWT have gone on strike over redundancies at Tasker Milward and Sir Thomas Picton secondary schools in Haverfordwest, Tonyrefail Comprehensive and Ysgol Bro Hyddgen in Machynlleth, among others.
Wales’ biggest secondary school, Whitchurch High School in Cardiff, has also told parents it faces a financial crisis and may have to make teachers redundant because of funding cuts.
The chair of governors at Whitchurch High wrote to parents at the 2,300-pupil school for 11 to 18-yearolds in March to warn the situation was dire.
Now teaching unions have written a stark letter to the Welsh Government and HM Treasury, warning school budgets are under “severe strain” and the teachers’ pay award announced this week cannot come from school coffers.
They warn pupils’ education will be affected and jobs lost unless the cost of the pay award is covered separately by the Welsh or UK governments.
Tim Pratt, director of the Association of School and College Leaders Cymru, said the bill for the rise would run to at least £150,000 for secondary schools, many of which are already in deficit of six figures and more.
Most schools in Wales “are struggling to make ends meet”, budgets are at breaking point and £170m earmarked for schools over the next two years is not enough, school leaders had warned before the award was even announced.
Mr Pratt said: “Before austerity, a pay award was announced and money followed.
“For the last few years the award has had to come from existing school budgets. This meant schools had less money and also used reserves.
“But school finances in Wales are now dire.
“We estimate at least half of all secondary schools in Wales are in deficit.
“I know one school which is £1m in deficit, some are six figures in deficit and others £50,000.”
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “The First Minister has already said we cannot countenance teachers in Wales being paid less than those in England.
“We are however very concerned that HM Treasury will not be providing any additional funding to cover this uplift. We have always been clear that any pay rise across the public sector must be fully funded by the UK Government to compensate for the reduction in Welsh Government’s budgets as a result of their policies of austerity.
“We have received the letter from the teaching unions, who are also concerned about the impact of an unfunded pay award, and we will continue to engage with them.
“The Department for Education are currently undertaking a formal consultation on these proposals for teachers’ pay and the Welsh Government will reiterate its position that any pay rise should be fully funded by the UK Government.”