School staff should be entitled to free school meals, according to a new campaign, because some are having to skip food as their pay doesn't stretch far enough for three meals a day. Staff such as teaching assistants are having to rely on food banks.
School worker Mary Goodson, told MyLondon: “When we started going back into schools after Covid, the crisis became apparent. One school near Colindale had a foodbank there as you go in the gate. I said, ‘oh God - who uses this, the parents?’ The staff replied that it was for them too. Things are really bad. They’re hand to mouth, many are single parents, or their partners are in lower-paid jobs. It is so sad.”
A new campaign running over the school holidays will ask councils to provide free lunches for TAs and school support staff. Glassdoor, Checkasalary and Indeed’s websites - using separate data on wages - all put the average teaching assistant salary in London at around £21,000 a year. The average London salary across all sectors is closer to £40,000.
The fair pay campaigner added: “Their jobs are stretched so far… Before there was a scheme where you got a free school meal. That ended. Now, some of us don’t even eat, staff say. They don’t have the time. Or you bring in a piece of fruit - but you’re focusing on feeding the kids at home.”
One teaching assistant told Mary she wouldn’t need to eat breakfast if she got a free lunch - saving her money: “'In the evening, even though I give my last mouthful to my kids, I’d be ok because I’d know I’d had a meal at school’. That would make the food she had left for her kid and partner go further. It would stretch one evening meal to a second evening.”
Many school catering staff do not even get lunch provided, despite cooking it. Mary says: “The catering teams would have to be part of the free meals - they used to get this. They are among the lowest paid, probably on less than TAs. They don’t get a meal. There could be leftovers, but there’s so many outsourced companies who watch every penny.”
The GMB activist says the cost of living crisis is getting so serious that some staff are struggling to afford to come to work: “It may come to that. They’re car sharing. One woman was telling me she tries to dodge the bus fare. It’s just getting worse. It’s shocking.”
Others are cutting their personal pension contributions to zero as the price of goods hits their pockets: “The pension goes out the window at the moment. They’ve had to opt out - they say they can’t afford to pay in. I say how important the pension is - but they tell me ‘the pension is the least of our worries, surviving is our worry'.”
Mary and her teaching assistant colleagues are urging councils to get behind their campaign. School meals cost around £2.10-£2.50 per person, so there will be an added cost to cash-strapped council. But Mary believes it is an emergency issue.
Asked whether the Mayor would back the campaign on Monday, Sadiq Khan told MyLondon he would “look into it”: “It’s heartbreaking to see people like teaching assistants and nurses having to rely on additional support. What I want to happen is for them to get long-term support through decent remuneration for a decent day’s work.
“What I have been trying to do is persuade the government to [ensure] all children have free school meals. I’m really concerned about them going hungry…For anyone who receives Universal Credit, their kids should get free school meals. There’s a separate issue about workers. If you do a hard day’s work, you should get a decent day’s pay.” The petition will go live on Friday , with a hand-in due to take place in September.
Letter in full
Dear education lead,
We the undersigned are school support staff. As you are aware, the cost of living crisis is biting hard. Increases in inflation affect low paid workers in London more acutely than in the rest of the country.
As key workers who were required to take huge personal risks during the pandemic, we are looking to you for leadership. A recent survey of school support staff in London by GMB Union found that 1/3 of our colleagues are relying on or considering using charitable food banks to feed themselves and their families.
In addition to rising food and fuel prices, our term time only contracts mean we are unpaid for 8 weeks of the year. This means that on average our hourly rate of pay for the year is £8.35p which falls way below the National Living Wage.
We need support from you as Education lead for our Borough. We ask you to immediately reinstate the Free School Lunches for all support staff in your schools. We look forward to meeting with you at the earliest opportunity.
