London Assembly calls for equitable weighting for public sector workers in London

Public sector organisations have different pay models, leading to varying levels of weighting – the level of additional wages to accommodate the increased costs associated with living in London.

Teachers in London schools can find themselves being paid inner London weighting, while school support staff in the same school can find themselves paid outer London weighting due to differing pay arrangements.

The London Assembly is therefore calling on the Mayor to continue to lobby for greater London weighting parity between the rates paid by public sector employers such as schools, police, NHS and councils.

Unmesh Desai AM, who proposed the original motion, said:

“It is egregious that some school staff are paid at an inner London weighting while lower paid support staff working in the exact same building are considered to be in outer London – and paid less as a result.

“I am pleased that the Assembly backed this motion today. We are calling on the Mayor to continue to lobby for greater London weighting parity  and to do what he can to redress this inequality so that we can support all workers.

“This glaring omission must be addressed. Thank you to all school staff across our city – you are helping raise the next generation of Londoners.”

Neil Garratt AM, who proposed the amendment to the motion, said:

“London weighting impacts school support staff as much as it impacts teachers. It is inequitable and egregious that some boroughs do not fully recognise the importance of support staff and deny them the inner London weighting which they pay to teachers at the same school.

"I am delighted the Assembly unanimously agreed to call out the boroughs responsible - Barking and Dagenham, Brent, Ealing, Greenwich, Haringey, Merton and Newham – and called on them to pay school support staff the same London weighting as teachers."

The full text of the motion is:

This Assembly notes that different pay models exist for different employers, such as schools, councils, the NHS and the Metropolitan Police.

This Assembly further notes that there is a mismatch between which boroughs are considered inner or outer London within the same workplace. Teachers in a school can find themselves being paid inner London Weighting, while school support staff in the same school can find themselves paid outer London weighting due to differing pay arrangements. Boroughs in which this occurs include Barking and Dagenham, Brent, Ealing, Greenwich, Haringey, Merton and Newham. In all other London boroughs, teachers and school support staffs’ London weighting is aligned with both sets of employees being graded the same category.

Furthermore, there is disparity between the working conditions within schools as over 95 per cent of school support staff are paid ‘term-time only’ contracts. This has resulted in substantial financial pressure on support staffs’ families and significant issues for schools in terms of retention and recruitment.

School support staff play a vital role in the education of our children. Yet schools are facing issues with retention for teaching assistants, those in facilities, catering, cleaners, administrative staff and those dealing with children with Special Educational Needs within schools.

This Assembly welcomes the GMB’s ‘Weighting for Change’ campaign, calling for redress for those who work for councils, often within schools, to be paid inner London weighting where other professions, such as teachers, receive an enhanced inner payment.

The standardisation in London weighting is imperative to improve recruitment and retention of public sector workers, but also is a necessity to provide dignity in the cost of-living crisis.

This Assembly welcomes the Mayor’s commitment to London weighting and notes that he committed to gather evidence on how it is applied and lobby for greater consistency.

This Assembly calls for:

• all London Borough’s employing support staff on outer London weighting in schools where teachers are employed on inner London weighting, to address this inequitable and egregious abnormality.
• the Mayor to continue to lobby for greater London weighting parity between the rates paid by public sector employers such as schools, police, NHS and councils.
• the Mayor to look at introducing an independent pay board to fairly set London weighting, and to include London weighting in the Good Work Standard.
• the Mayor to report back to the Assembly what progress has been made with regards to London weighting within the next 6 months.