Conservatives try to block new law on school support staff pay and conditions from applying to academies

Conservative MPs have been seeking to stop a new law, which aims to set national minimum pay and conditions expectations for school support staff, from applying to academies.

As the new government’s Employment Rights bill continued its passage through Parliament yesterday, Conservative members of the legislative committee scrutinising it in detail proposed an amendment which would have given an opt-out for the academy sector.

The bill will re-introduce the school support staff negotiating body (SSSNB), which was abolished in 2010 by Michael Gove as education secretary. Ministers want to set national pay and conditions terms for support staff, whom the government says comprise more than half of the school workforce. The move was set out in Labour’s 2024 manifesto.

However, during debate on this section of the bill yesterday, Conservative MPs argued both against the restoration of the SSSNB in itself, and the notion that, if it did come back, it would apply to academies. Their argument was that employers need the “flexibility” to determine their own pay and conditions. Labour countered that their opponents appeared to want to allow academies the freedom to pay support staff less.

Greg Smith, Conservative MP for Mid Buckinghamshire who is also a shadow business minister, tabled an amendment which would have given academy trusts the ability to disregard the SSSNB’s “framework” in “exceptional circumstances”. The argument was that academy freedoms were an important part of what had been a successful policy.