THE WAY SCHOOLS WORK - ON £1 MILLION A WEEK UNPAID OVERTIME

GMB PUBLISHES NATIONAL SURVEY OF SCHOOL ADMIN STAFF

Press Release

A survey to be published by the GMB – Britain’s General Union – highlights the alarming extent to which school administrative staff are working unpaid overtime.

“The Way Schools Work”, based on evidence collected by the GMB Research Department, shows that schools across England and Wales are benefiting from an estimated total of nearly 100,000 hours a week for unpaid overtime. This amounts to an estimated total saving on staff costs of £1 million a week.

The GMB survey shows that two-thirds of the 57,000 school administrative staff in England and Wales regularly work in excess of their contractual hours.

GMB National Secretary Brian Strutton said:

“School admin staff are dedicated people. There is no doubt their goodwill is being taken for granted, especially when we hear the government saying it wants to increase the hours that schools are open. The sad fact is that, for all the talk of reform and investment, Muggins is alive and well and being relied upon to keep our schools running.

“Admin staff are experiencing excessive workloads as a result of financial, facilities, pupil and performance data responsibilities being handed down from local authorities to school level. They are often the too-tolerant victims of inadequate staffing levels and school funding difficulties.

“They have had to take on an array of extra tasks as a result of the transfer of administrative and clerical duties previously undertaken by teachers as a result of the teachers’ contract change.

“At the same time, pay levels for school admin staff have failed to keep pace with the complexity, range and depth of their skills and responsibilities. Depressed pay levels combined with the widespread use of contracts where school closure periods are unpaid mean that the typical salary revealed by our survey for a member of staff with wide- ranging office, facilities and financial/budgetary responsibilities is around £11,200 – less than half the national average wage.

“Low pay and excessive workloads are combining to sap morale and wreck work-life balance among a workforce which is pivotal to the smooth running of our schools.

“The GMB is pushing for urgent action by government, local authorities and schools to review pay and grading for school support staff; to comply with their duties under the working time regulations to monitor and record school support staff working time; and to comply with guidance associated with the national school workforce agreement (Raising Standards and Tackling Workload) in reviewing administrative and clerical functions and establishing sustainable staffing levels which remove the need for excessive overtime working.”

- Ends -

EDITORS NOTES

The full report "The Way Our Schools Work" is available to view on the GMB website- click here to view it

There are around 57,000 school administrative staff in England and Wales (full-time equivalent)

Of these two thirds receive no pay at all for the extra hours worked.

At a national level this would equate to around to 25,000 staff (full-time equivalent) who regularly work additional hours for which they receive no pay

The GMB survey shows for 39 per cent unpaid additional hours average up to 2 hours a week, for 24 per cent between 2 and 4 hours, for 23 per cent between 4 and 6 hours, for 12 per cent between 6 and 10 hours and for 3 per cent unpaid hours average over 10 hours a week

We estimate this would equate to around 97,000 hours a week, based on a detailed breakdown in the unpaid hours distribution revealed by our survey

The median hourly rate of pay for school administrative staff in our survey is £7.98 and the standard overtime premium under the local government agreement which covers school support staff is time and a half

This produces a total figure of £1,161,090, which adjusted for part-time staff who may receive plain time for some or all of their overtime, gives an estimated saving of around £1m in overtime payments

The amount of unpaid overtime currently being worked would equate to around 3,000 extra full-time administrative posts.

Back to Home Page