Primary Clerical Assistants Working Group Meeting 6 Dec.

A working group consisting of Primary Clerical Assistants, Primary Head Teachers, School Support Managers, Education Staff and UNISON Stewards met on Tuesday, 6 December 2016.

The first statement which Mr Colin Grant made was that there would be ‘NO DECISIONS TAKEN TODAY’. He went on to say that the Education Department had to find £250,000 from their Budget. Teachers’ salaries are the biggest expense from the Budget but these could not be cut.

Scenarios for budget savings were put forward as follows:-

• If we remain with the status quo, then 10-12 FTE staff cuts would require to be made. These staff would be from those requesting ERVS. No-one would be turned down. The school formulas would be looked at and schools would lose clerical time.
• The formation of ‘hubs’. This would take staff out of schools to work in a ‘hub’ with school clerical staff numbers being reduced. Actual numbers of staff involved were vague. All attendees were put into groups and were given a task of finding out where savings could be made. These lists were collected at the end of the session and will be discussed further at the Education Issues Group, which includes UNISON Stewards, at their next meeting on Wednesday, 14 December, at Woodbank.

Clerical staff present were vocal in questioning Management.

When more information is available then members will be contacted. Please keep up to date via our website.