Statement by TUV – No Sea Border Lagan Valley candidate Lorna Smyth:
“As the DUP trumpets success in making a pay offer proposal for school support workers, it’s rather disappointing to learn that this proposal is only aimed at full-time workers in that sector, those who work 30+ hours a week.
“Paul Givan estimates that 20,000 people will benefit if this proposal is accepted. There are a total of 19,809 classroom assistants in Northern Ireland employed between the Education Authority, Grant Maintained Integrated schools and voluntary grammar schools and while I’m not criticising the Minister for rounding up, this claim is only accurate if 100% of classroom assistants work 30+ hours a week which is demonstrably not the case. To work 30+ hours a week in a school, full time classroom assistants usually start at 8.30am and finish at 3.00pm.
“From talking to a number of classroom assistants in Lagan Valley, I know that the vast majority of them work between the hours of 9.00am to either 1.00pm or 2.00pm. This will particularly apply to Foundation Stage classroom assistants whose pupils leave at 1.00pm. Also excluded will be special educational needs classroom assistants whose 1-1 duties tend to cease around 2.00pm. Even for those classroom assistants fortunate enough to be employed full time, it has to be pointed out that even if this proposal is accepted by unions, it is only valid for this year and so next year we will be talking about the same issue once again.”