Pay!

[Guest]

Evening all, I wonder if anyone can help me, I received a letter today from my local council proposing a £5000 reduction in my pay over the next three years, I know they are trying to bring nursery nurse pay inline with ta's but £5000 seems a bit excessive. Have heard it's happened in other areas aswell, would be interested to here any views

Thanks for listening

Gill x

[Guest]

I can't offer any help on one level as I am not in an area where this is taking place (yet!!) although I am a NNEB

 

It seems to me that I have read this was going on and each time I think to myself that TA training is nothing like nursery nurse training..... if the TA has qualifications at all.

 

I am not knocking being aTA or getting TA qualifications but the nursery nurse training is surely worth something!!

 

Do you have a job description for a nursery nurse as compared to TAs job descriptions?

 

I was a NN in a hospital when a pay review came in and I headed up our fight against being regraded way lower than what we were actually doing.

We won. EVENTUALLY!

I think you need to look into it carefully and find other NNs to "fight" against this with you.

Consult your union for advice too.

 

I think although I have been in my job in a school nursery for 14 years now and was originally taken on as a NNEB when there was a school review and our jobs had to be reapplied for I think I then became a TA level 3.

My job has changed since but I dont know if this is a way of everyone being called the same?

 

Also I am only paid for the hours I work so being employed by county even though I work full time I dont get the same pay as someone who works elsewhere with my qualification who get s paid full time (ie 37.5 hous per week)

 

I would start gathering evidence and advice..... look at other countys who have already fought the battle too!

 

Good luck

[AnonyMouse_73]

Hi Gillie, the Single Status has been around for quite a while now, although some LAs are just implementing it now, and some remain to do so.

 

I would certainly check your LA website about how single status is being implemented, and also contact your union if you are in one. Many LAs have agreed to protect pay for the first year.

 

One of the key shifts as Scarletangel said is that TAs in schools usually have a maximum working week of 32.5 hours, for 39 weeks of the year whereas a full time week is classed as 37.5 hours and for around 45 weeks. So your pay now would be pro rata of a full time salary.

 

It has been a really tough blow for many nursery nurses in particular, especially if their household is reliant on that income for mortgages etc.

 

Best of luck with it.

[Guest lou73]

Hi.

I just wanted to say that as a nursery teacher I have worked with both Ta's and NNB trained nursery nurses and have always found the nursery nurses to be worth their weight in gold.....Although some TA's are very, very good, some unfortunatley are shocking. I was outraged recently when my nursery nurse was temporarly replaced with a level 2 TA (due to ill health) as she was completely inapporate in just so many ways, to the point where I demanded she was removed from the setting. However my point is that this lady was in the middle of doing a level 3 correspondence course which would give her level 3 status. I thought she will never pass and was horrified when she did with flying colours. SHe never applied what she was supposed to learn through her modules and did not seem to move on from her very low starting point. I feel the system is very unfair.

 

Lou

[Guest]

That is very unfair. I went through harmonisation when I worked as a LSA and we all got a pay rise! I guess bringing the TA payscale in line with the nursery nurse scale.

 

TAs are a very diverse bunch, I had a PGCE and later was HLTA. Another TA did her NVQ and was later Learning Mentor. One had come from a Special School and had huge experience in working with children with SEN and additional needs. In Reception and Nursery they had NNEBs. Others were on a gap year before taking up a PGCE. Then some had come through the parent helper route. Some had no qualifications and often struggled when new ideas/ approaches were adopted.

 

Our payscale was 4 steps, but in face 1 was only used if people were rubbish, and 4 was never used as the union had to trade that off against something else.

 

 

Nursery staff worked a longer week and only got 4 weeks holiday entitlement, so we got a pro rata amount of the full salary.