Teacher strike savings (FOI)

Request

A

How much money has the Department of Education saved on the Teachers salaries, whilst they have not been paying their salaries due to the eight days of strike action in May?

B

Why are fee paying parents not being refunded for the school fees paid when the service of education has not been provided on the strike days?

Response

A

The members of the National Education Union were on strike for eight days in May. The total saving on their salaries was £247,191. This represents £234,684 on basic salaries and £12,507 on Social Security payments.

B

The Government of Jersey’s position is that, while sympathetic, it will not be offering financial compensation to parents and carers for the impact of the strike by teachers, whether this is for additional childcare costs, loss of earnings or holidays, or to issuing rebates in respect of school fees at fee-paying schools.

The Education (Jersey) Law 1999 provides for the Governing Bodies of fee-paying provided schools to set fees (subject to the approval of the Minister) for the provision of education in each of those schools. Such schools also receive funding from the Government of Jersey. The combined fees and funding are used to cover the costs of running the school. In the case of fee-paying provided schools, fees are calculated and levied on a per term basis. The number of days on which a fee-paying provided school is open varies from term to term and may be affected by a number of factors (for example, industrial action, adverse weather conditions and inset days).