Nearly half of school support staff are looking for better-paid work amid ongoing cost pressures, according to a survey.
Some 46 per cent of support staff, including teaching assistants, in schools in England are currently looking for better paid work, the survey of Unison members shows.
Nearly seven in 10 respondents (68 per cent) said their workload had increased over the past year, while more than half (56 per cent) reported a reduction in the number of support staff in that time period.
The survey shows that the impact of the high cost of living is continuing to be felt in schools, with one-third of respondents saying they are using their own funds to help pupils buy food and uniform.
Schools have mounting concerns about recruiting and retaining crucial support staff, as the cost-of-living crisis forces staff to consider better paid work outside of the classroom.
In the survey by the union Unison of 8,000 school support staff across all phases - including teaching assistants, supervisors and technicians - almost all respondents (96 per cent) said they feared their pay is not enough to cover their spiralling bills and other household costs.
School support staff ‘finding job unaffordable’
James Bowen, assistant general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said that the figures show the “urgency” of tackling the impact of poverty on children, something he says the government has “so far done very little to help alleviate”.
Mr Bowen said that it “can’t be right” that staff are increasingly pitching in to cover pupils’ costs, especially lower-paid staff members “who often struggle to make ends meet themselves”.
Unison said: “The situation is not sustainable - it is vital that education receives the investment it needs to pay a decent wage which attracts and retains staff and allows schools to deliver the standard of education that all children deserve.”
One support staff member told Unison that the job was becoming “increasingly unaffordable”, while another said that they had had to take a second job to pay their bills.
Almost a quarter of support staff surveyed (24 per cent) have a second or third job, alongside their work in school.
Some 44 per cent have had to borrow money, and more than one in 10 (14 per cent) have used a foodbank in the past year.
Mike Short, Unison’s head of education, said that staff members’ “generosity and dedication are to be applauded, but it is truly shocking that employees struggling to make ends meet are having to bail out less fortunate families”.
“Support staff are vital to the smooth running of schools and the experiences of pupils. Their pay should better reflect the invaluable support they provide,” he said.
A government spokesperson said that the government has worked hard to halve inflation and “is also providing an additional up to £40million this year to support those schools facing the greatest financial challenges”.
