Schools
are saving millions of pounds a year because staff are working thousands of hours of unpaid
overtime, according to the GMB union.
The
union research, The Way Schools Work, found that schools across England
and Wales
are benefited from an estimated total of nearly 100,000 hours a week for unpaid
overtime. This amounted to an estimated total saving on staff costs of £1m a
week.
The
survey showed that two-thirds of the 57,000 school administrative staff in England
and Wales
regularly work in excess of
their contractual hours.
GMB
national secretary Brian Strutton
said the excessive workloads were a result of financial, facilities, pupil and performance data
responsibilities being handed down from local authorities to school level.
“Low
pay and excessive workloads are combining to sap morale and wreck work-life
balance in a workforce that is pivotal to the smooth running of our schools,”
he said.
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