Single Pay News Article On BBC

[russdev]

There is news article on bbc about single pay scheme for support staff...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6687245.stm

Russell

[Halfmad]

I'm already bent over a desk with my trousers at my ankles awaiting my single status re-evaluation of my salary.

My boss has even suggested I look for a new job as he was sitting in on the meetings, he's also looking for alternative employment.

19% of staff in West Lothian are being "red circled" meaning no pay rises for 4 years although your salary is conserved for that term before being butchered to whatever the people who don't have a foggiest what you do decided on a whim what it should be (sorry went into rant mode there).

Everyone else is getting a pay rise, in some cases a rise and double increments.

Granted I COULD get a pay rise, but seeing as I earn £7,000 more than most Network Managers in my area (because I don't have a technician to support me) I'm expecting the worst as I'll be "normalised" to their level.

[alan-d]

Is this the single status farce under another name or a separate scheme altogether?

To me it looks like Schools only. If that's the case, will we be affected by the single status changes at all?

[russdev]

Right idea of single pay scheme is like teachers pay scheme lets start with basics.

At moment support staff pay is decided by unions but is negotiated at local level so what a network manager gets in Leicestershire is different to a network manager in nottingham even down to extra's.

There are stuff lea's most do as it is in green book but that is minimum level and to be honest most lea's don't go too much over what green book says.

What single pay scheme means is pay scales are decided at national level like teachers (why do you think they get better working conditions).

It effects people who work for lea in education setting I would have thought.

Main point is that with schools moving away from lea control they could take advantage by offering really low wages compared to LEA and we all know how low our wages are at moment.

Other part is that no longer can school/lea say right take money out for teaching staff and what ever is left over is what we pay the support staff.

Biggest thing is all extra's that teachers get that we don;t as support staff i.e for example maternity leave is better for teaching staff compared to what most local unions reps have negotiated for support staff.

For example government can say don;t want pay increases for public sector staff to go over 2% but if a couple of local lea's offer say 3% but rest offer 2% it has split national workforce. So any strikes would be local . But on other hand if did that with teachers pay then it would threat of a national strike and more trouble for government so gives unions better bargaining power.

This all came from 'schools trust bill' and a sweetener to keep support stff from striking over it.

The single status scheme people where on about was meant to bring male and female pays in line in local government but what leas did was use it as cost cutting ex cerise. With national pay scheme the government can't do that as it would a threat of a national strike and that is never good for any government.

The single pay scheme in my view in my humble view is a good step but time will tell...

Russell

[webman]

By the time they get their act together and we're all on this single national pay scheme, we'll all be outsourced due to BSF anyway!

[mark]

Was gonna start a new thread but this one will do...

We're just due to start Job Evaluation for support staff, in fact our initial 'introduction' meeting was postponed last Thursday.

Funny our school issued new Job Descriptions on Thursday, and mine was truly shocking.. talk about dumbed down - it only mentions repairs to PCs, and my job title is changed from ICT Network Admin to ICT Technician.

Some people are saying to me 'great, you don't have to do much then' but of course if they compare my job at £18k to someone on £13k with a far more wide ranging set of responsibilities then they're gonna say 'downgrade him'.

I've not signed it and I don't intend to. It just doesn't represent what I do every day, and have done for 5 years now, so the law is against them I think (if you've worked roles for more than 2 years they become part of your job).

They're breaking their contract with me - they haven't had the decency to even discuss this with me. Not too hot on staff relations at my place.

[russdev]

arr you see this has benefit of people tuped under bsf got argument against not being paid less than the national wage.

[Geoff]

They're breaking their contract with me - they haven't had the decency to even discuss this with me. Not too hot on staff relations at my place.

Get a hold of your Union rep. Let them know what's going on. Give them a copy of the Job Description you got. Ask them to come to any meetings you have with your Line manager/SMT over the situation.

[Lee_K_81]

I'm not sure how this will effect schools. They seem to be an entity to themselves. I, for example, have some responsibility for Assessment and Timetabling, I cant imagine those being on a standard JD for a systems manager. I now also (in last 6 weeks) line manage not only the 2 ICT techs, but the 2 D&T techs and 2 science techs, plus the possibility of 1-2 technical admin staff. I think the Gov / LA will say what is standard and what pay they should get, but i think schools will have some flexibility with regards to any extra stuff. I hope.

[GrumbleDook]

Part of the problem is that some schools only assess you against the criteria that they are given, and often the extra jobs you do actually fall under some other job title like website manager or data administrator.

The same way that teachers are not meant to hold jobs under TLRs that are amalgamations of other jobs (ie the head of Maths can't suddenly have head of year 7 chucked on to bump up the TLR grade) it is expected that all support staff can be pigeon holed into set roles.

The effect will be that people will work to rule, schools will lose out and think that BSF looks a good option.

Those schools that are switched on will challenge this ... and these tend to be those that fall under the 'innovative' umbrella or some other fancy title from the DfES or national qango.