Jersey’s teaching assistants vote on three-year pay deal

Prospect is balloting teaching assistants, key workers and related employees in Jersey on a pay deal for 2018 to 2020.

The offer covers staff on the Teaching Assistant Framework and people who work in the Children, Young People, Education and Skills department.

It aims to resolve the dispute around the 2018, 2019 and 2020 review of salaries.

The offer comprises:

• a 2% consolidated increase to salaries from 1 January 2018 and a further one-off, unconsolidated payment of 1.1% of salaries from 1 January 2018
• a 2.0% consolidated increase to salaries from 1 January 2019 and a further one-off, unconsolidated payment of 1% of salaries from 1 January 2019
• a guaranteed consolidated increase to salaries of the September 2019 Retail Prices Index plus 1.3%, payable from 1 January 2020
• a further guaranteed 0.8% consolidated increase to salaries from 1 January 2020 in acknowledgement of the unions’ full engagement and involvement with an education reform programme. 

The reform programme will focus on identifying and implementing initiatives to remove avoidable costs in order to support the additional payment under the pay offer and strategies to reduce workload, improve workforce wellbeing and further enhance the quality of educational provision.

This work offers the opportunity for teaching assistants to develop their careers and progress to senior teaching assistant roles.

If the offer is accepted, the civil service staff side (Prospect, Unite, NASUWT, NEU and NAHT) will be part of a joint working group.