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NEWS • VIEWS • INFORMATION • ADVICE
Headteacher pay rise plan slammed
The Secretary of State has given the green light for headteachers to receive a pay rise of up to 25%.
Michael Gove has accepted a recommendation from the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), the independent body that makes recommendations on teachers’ pay, that in ‘exceptional’ cases governing bodies will be able to award a pay rise of up to 25% above a new base limit for headteachers’ pay.
A ‘base’ Individual School Range (ISR) is to be created to set a limit on headteachers’ salaries, but Mr Gove has agreed that governing bodies will be able to exceed this by up to 25% where they see fit. Governing bodies will not need the approval of local authorities to award the pay rise.
Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, described the plans as a licence to award headteachers pay rises, at a time when teachers and other public sector workers are facing a two-year pay freeze. She added that it would fail to tackle the excessive benefit packages already being commanded by some headteachers and would leave the pay system wide open to abuse.
“This will not address the fact that pay determination for headteachers relies solely on governors, whose decisions are often cloaked in secrecy and neither monitored nor subject to scrutiny or challenge,” she said.
“This will not address the increasing evidence of disproportionate and excessive benefit packages being awarded to some headteachers, in addition to increased salaries.
“There is an increasing tendency for schools to offer packages of benefits in addition to salary, including private health care, additional leave, a car and/or membership of a variety of clubs.
“It will not introduce the muchneeded openness, fairness, transparency, consistency and objectivity to pay determination for school leaders.”
"Throw all of this into the mix of greater autonomy for schools, the fragmentation of the service and the severance of a direct link with local authorities and it is clear that the system is wide open to abuse …"
Safety reforms leave employers free to break the law
Most employers will no longer face health and safety inspections, with the overall number of checks carried out dropping by a third, the Coalition Government has announced.
Health and safety legislation is also to be reviewed, with a view to scrapping measures that ministers consider to be unnecessary. Only those organisations considered to be high risk, such as energy plants, will be subject to health and safety inspections under the plans, which form part of a wider Government review of the health and safety system.
The NASUWT is completely opposed to any deregulation or cuts to inspection and enforcement. The Coalition has consistently sought to portray the health and safety system as bureaucratic and burdensome for employers rather than acknowledging the importance of keeping workers safe and healthy.
Cuts of 35% have been made to the budget of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) by the Coalition and there is to be a shift away from face-to-face contact between HSE officials and employers in favour of web-based operations.
A new online package of health and safety advice is to be made available to small and medium-sized employers, but the Coalition itself describes this as ‘basic’ and the NASUWT does not believe this is sufficient to monitor employers’ compliance with health and safety laws and ensure workers are protected.
Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, warned that the reforms signal the wholesale deregulation of health and safety and feared that they will leave employers free to break the law:
“Research has demonstrated that inspection and enforcement is the most effective way of tackling lax workplace health and safety and protecting workers. We know that simply relying on the good will of employers to act in a responsible way does not work.
“These reforms place the health and safety of workers in jeopardy and are entirely consistent with this Government’s drive to prioritise profiteering and the interests of big business over protecting and supporting ordinary workers.”
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