UNISON members in academies run by the United Learning Trust (ULT) have voted to accept the employer’s final pay offer of a 1% pay rise on all spinal column points.
ULT also offered to increase support staff salaries at the lower end of the scale to £7.85 outside London (based on current 2015 Living Wage rates).
Academies affected in West Sussex include:
• Midhurst Rother College
• Shoreham Academy
• The Regis School, and
• Southway Primary, both in Bognor.
The pay rise affects only staff on ULT employment contracts, not those who were transferred over to the academies from West Sussex County Council through the ‘TUPE’ (Transfer of Undertakings, Protection of Employment) process.
Pay consultation ran from 20 September to 8 October 2015. The pay rise will be backdated to 1 September.
Lorraine Solti, workplace rep at The Regis School said: “Even though not all of our members were affected by this consultation, it was important that as many members as possible took part as only then could the union conduct effective collective bargaining on their behalf. Acceptance of pay offers is not a foregone conclusion.
“Sadly, support staff numbers at The Regis have decreased recently. As support staff leave they are – in many cases – not replaced, especially in learning support. But it’s not just here, as having spoken to other school reps, they are facing similar issues.”