Nursery nurse pay to be cut by third

By Catherine Gaunt, Nursery World, 27 May 2009

More than 100 nursery nurses in schools in Devon are set to lose up to a third of their salaries under council plans to bring their pay in line with other council workers.

If it goes ahead, the proposal will mean that nursery nurses' pay will be calculated in the same way as teaching assistants and administrative staff in schools.
Nursery nurses and teachers held a protest meeting last week at Pynes Infant School and Nursery at Bideford with representatives from unions, including Unison.
Under plans currently out for consultation, the council wants to bring in a new job description of Early Years Assistant from 1 September for nursery nurses who are qualified to NVQ level 3 or equivalent, which has been evaluated by the council as 'JE grade C'.
Under the proposals, nursery nurses will no longer qualify to be paid during the school holidays but will have to take a paid 20- to 25-day allocation in that time.
Roger Spackman, Devon County Unison branch secretary, called the council's plans 'atrocious'. He said, 'They're trying to change the job title, but it's the same job. Teachers are paid year-round. There's a disparity between teachers and other staff paid to work alongside each other.
'The council has got everything the wrong way round; it's term-time working that causes the inequality. It's about keeping low-paid women on low pay. It's a cheap way to get round not having a national agreement. If teachers have separate terms and conditions, why shouldn't nursery nurses?'
Based on current terms and conditions, nursery nurses in Devon are considered full-time employees and paid an annual salary if they work 32.5 hours per week during term-time.
The council consultation said, 'The salary paid to a full-time nursery nurse is equivalent to staff employed elsewhere in Devon County Council who work 37 hours per week and all year round. This undermines the requirement for an employer to have equal pay and conditions for staff undertaking work of equal value and could lead to a successful legal challenge.'
The council claims that in effect, full-time nursery nurses are being paid to work 66 per cent of the time of other full-time local government staff paid the same annual salary.
A council spokesperson said, 'We are carrying out a review of the method of calculation of pay for nursery nurses working in maintained schools, in order to harmonise them with council staff on the same grade. Similar reviews have been or are being carried out by local authorities nationally, to address an historic disparity of pay across this sector. We have consulted with trade unions, headteachers, teachers and staff who will be affected and will be reviewing the comments made before making a decision later this month.'
Mr Spackman also queried why the council was making the move at this time when the Support Staff Negotiating Body is set to look at the pay and conditions of all school support staff (Analysis, 5 November 2008).
'There's the new negotiating body which will set pay and conditions in the future. Isn't it a bit short-sighted to make changes now?' he said.

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