City puts £900k aside for school payoffs as staff get axe warning

Jenny Dawe

It has been confirmed that 860,000 has been set aside to be spent in the next year on "voluntary early release" deals on offer to secondary school principal teachers, deputy heads and bursar managers.

The council wants to save 2.4 million over the next two years by reducing management costs in secondary schools, as well as 736,000 by removing the role of bursar managers.

City leader Jenny Dawe has confirmed that the council cannot rule out compulsory redundancies, despite First Minister Alex Salmond pledging at the weekend that there would be no compulsory redundancies in the public sector.

Trade union leaders are continuing to fight the school management cuts, which they say will have a direct impact on the education of children.

The EIS union has already signalled its intention to ballot for possible strike action.

John Stevenson, president of the Edinburgh branch of Unison, said: "If these were essential jobs in schools in the first place then they still are. The work will still have to be done by somebody, and it could put more pressure on teachers.

"People will get no more (severance payments) than they are entitled to, whether they are made compulsorily redundant or they will go voluntarily this money will be paid one way or another.

"They are not getting enhanced payments - payouts have been greatly reduced - but the best way to avoid these costs is to keep them in their jobs.

"Schools do not run themselves and somebody is still going to need to do this work."

Around 180 "senior business support" staff within the city's schools have received letters asking them if they are willing to apply for voluntary redundancy.

There remain fears that the council could need to resort to compulsory redundancies for the school management cuts and other cuts across the council that could affect 1200 jobs, despite the First Minister's pledge at the SNP party conference.

In response to a question at full council, council leader Jenny Dawe said: "We are happy to try to work towards no compulsory redundancies, but no council in Scotland can give a commitment that there will be none."

Opposition councillors today said they were not convinced that the school management cuts were achievable. Cllr Andrew Burns, leader of the Labour group on the council, said: "The whole problem is that the budget was set for this before any detailed strategy was agreed.

"It has been agreed that over 3m will be taken out of schools in terms of management posts, yet there has been no strategy decided on.

"It seems completely cart before horse.

"Putting aside nearly 1m for voluntary severance is all well and good but there has been no detailed proposals put to the workforce."

A council spokesman said: "In some schools there are more principal teachers and deputes than there are class teachers and we need to redress the balance to keep the emphasis on teaching.

"We are working closely with headteachers to develop a leadership structure which recognises the size and profile of each school. There will be an initial cost, but the ongoing savings made as a result will protect front-line teaching."