{"id":229374,"date":"2025-05-06T17:44:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T16:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=229374"},"modified":"2025-05-06T17:44:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T16:44:16","slug":"harris-blames-unfunded-pay-rises-as-it-plans-redundancies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/harris-blames-unfunded-pay-rises-as-it-plans-redundancies\/","title":{"rendered":"Harris blames ‘unfunded’ pay rises as it plans redundancies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the country\u2019s largest trusts is planning redundancies at around 20 of its schools, blaming \u201cextremely challenging\u201d school budgets caused by \u201cunfunded\u201d pay and national insurance rises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the NASUWT teaching union has accused the Harris Federation<\/a> of \u201cdisgraceful behaviour\u201d, pointing out its chief executive Sir Dan Moynihan (pictured) earns over \u00a3500,000 a year and the trust has tens of millions in reserves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schools Week<\/em>\u00a0understands around 20 schools are in scope \u2013 nearly half of Harris\u2019s 55 academies. NASUWT has said it believes 45 teachers are at risk. The trust was approached for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funding \u2018extremely challenging\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In a letter from Harris about the redundancies, seen by Schools Week<\/em>, the trust pointed to the \u201cUK-wide issue that schools are experiencing in respect of a challenging financial situation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe key elements of this problem are outside of our, and indeed most schools, control. These issues can only be dealt with by reductions in costs and this will regrettably impact on teaching and support staff numbers for the next financial year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harris said it was \u201cfacing an unfunded pay rise for teachers of 2.8 per cent and for support staff of 3.2 per cent, which we will have to fund from existing budgets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAdded to this, we also have the extra burden of the governments [sic] increase to national insurance, again which is not fully funded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been reports that the teacher pay award recommended by the School Teachers\u2019 Review Body could be even higher \u2013 around 4 per cent \u2013 with government adamant additional funding is not coming.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter states the other issue is a \u201ccritical drop in income as, like nearly all London schools, we are experiencing a significant drop in our rolls resulting from the falling birth rate and therefore we have no extra income to offset costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are therefore in a challenging situation; and we need to act quickly to restructure in time for the start of the next academic year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harris is \u201cmindful that we are required to have any changes in place\u201d by the end of May \u201cin respect of any fall in teacher numbers due to redundancy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Underhand tactics\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The trust will \u201clook to \u2018natural wastage\u2019 and redeployment wherever possible to preserve employment. It is never our aim to lose good and dedicated teaching staff, but the current situation is extremely challenging\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harris said indicative affected roles were due to be provided by the end of April 30, and group and one-on-one meetings would start this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Matt
Matt Wrack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But the NASUWT\u2019s acting general secretary Matt Wrack accused Harris of \u201ctrying to make dozens of dedicated teachers redundant and are using underhand tactics to try and force this through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir disgraceful behaviour is causing untold stress to our members and will only serve to damage children\u2019s education\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The union claimed that alongside \u201crefusing\u201d to hold a collective consultation, the trust \u201cfailed to provide a business case for the redundancies or any financial justification at all\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trust CEO has \u00a3500k salary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Wrack added: \u201cThis academy trust has tens of millions in the bank, pays its boss more than the prime minister and yet is seeking to get rid of 45 teachers in its schools.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harris was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moynihan last year became the first academy trust CEO to draw a salary of over \u00a3500,000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He took home between \u00a3515,000 and \u00a3520,000 in 2023-24, up from a range of \u00a3485,000 to \u00a3490,000 the previous reporting year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trust \u2013 which has been criticised over its executive pay salaries \u2013 has six other members of staff earning more than \u00a3190,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harris\u2019s \u00a328 million reserves equate to around 7.7 per cent of its annual income \u2013 which is \u201capproximately 1.1 months\u2019 revenue expenditure\u201d, accounts state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government guidance states nearly all trusts hold at least 5 per cent of total income in reserves, and levels of 20 per cent are considered high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The union is calling for an \u201cimmediate halt to the 45 proposed teacher redundancies, a \u201cproper collective consultation\u201d and full transparency on the rationale for redundancies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But NASUWT teaching union accuses academy trust of ‘disgraceful behaviour’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":137583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[449],"post-theme":[2425],"class_list":["post-229374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-school-funding","post-theme-school-funding"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t