A new deal for school support staff
UNISON is at the forefront of work on exciting new legislation for school support staff in England
School support staff deserve more
Schools have changed dramatically over the last 14 years, with many school support staff taking on more responsibilities.
Labour has committed to restoring the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB), a negotiating body focused exclusively on school support staff, meaning we can focus on issues that really affect staff working in schools.
What does the new deal mean for you?
The SSSNB will decide pay, terms and conditions for school support staff, as well as take a new approach to staff training and development. Find out more about what this involves and how this might affect you:
The SSSNB will include all types of state-funded schools, including academies and schools within multi-academy trusts. This means that all school support staff will benefit from the same pay and conditions – academies will no longer be able to opt-out of paying nationally negotiated rates of pay.
UNISON is working with the Department for Education to set up the legislation. We are involved in discussions about who should be included and what should be covered. When the negotiating body is formed, UNISON will sit on the trade union side and will bring the views of UNISON members to the table.
We’re working with the government to create a new negotiating body, which will decide pay and terms and conditions for school support staff, as well as taking a new approach to staff training and development.
There are only three recognised trade unions for school support staff: UNISON, GMB and Unite. These will be the only three unions that sit on the new negotiating body. Please note that the NEU are not part of this process and are not able to negotiate pay for school support staff.
No, this is not true. UNISON has been a key campaigner in making the SSSNB part of the current government’s policy, and we would never advocate for any policy that would lead to some people being paid less or seeing a cut to their rights at work.
The SSSNB will give support staff a voice and will be a vehicle to increase fairness in pay and conditions for support staff across the board. In our talks with ministers and government officials, we are making it clear that we want to see national contracts that offer a base level of terms and conditions for all staff, on top of which multi-academy trusts can offer more if they choose.
Get involved
Become a school support staff champion
You can help us by becoming a school support staff champion.
Have your say
Anyone with an interest can take part, and we are urging our members to have their say.
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