We believe that treating teachers as full-year employees but reducing the salaries of support staff by up to 20% through term-time working is divisive, bad for morale and unfair.

Term-time contracts also penalise a predominantly female workforce and worsen the problems of low pay.

Support for the unions’ proposal can be seen from UNISON’s survey of councillors and local government officers attending the Local Government Association’s 2015 annual conference. 82% of respondents agreed it was divisive and unfair that many school support staff are on term-time contracts of around 39 weeks a year while teachers are paid the whole year.

Support staff are critical to the smooth running of all schools and make a vital contribution to delivering improved educational outcomes for children and young people. The trade unions are clear that paying them properly for the vital work they do is long overdue.

In the last few months there have been some harrowing stories of low paid teaching assistants having a 23 & 25 % pay cut imposed by their employer. 

In your first speech as Prime Minister you said the following: 

"If you’re from an ordinary working class family, life is much harder than many people in Westminster realise. You have a job but you don’t always have job security. You have your own home but you worry about paying the mortgage. You can just about manage, but you worry about the cost of living and getting your kids into a good school. If you’re one of those families, if you’re just managing, I want to address you directly. I know you’re working around the clock, I know you’re doing your best and I know that sometimes life can be a struggle. The Government I lead will be driven, not by the interests of the privileged few, but by yours."

Now is the chance to demonstrate that your words mean that this discrimination must end and announce that you will end Term Time Pay in schools.