Latest news with #NationalEducationUnion
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The Independent
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Jeremy Corbyn amongst thousands at rally to protest Labour ‘austerity'
Thousands protested in central London against government spending cuts and welfare reforms, organised by The People's Assembly and attended by former Labour leader and independent MP Jeremy Corbyn. Organisers, including The People's Assembly, criticised the government for implementing spending cuts that disproportionately affect vulnerable members of society. Various organisations, such as the National Education Union, Green Party, and RMT union, participated in the march from Portland Place to Whitehall. Protesters held signs with slogans like 'Tax the rich, stop the cuts – welfare not warfare' and 'Nurses not nukes'. A People's Assembly spokesperson stated that adherence to 'fiscal rules' traps the UK in a public service funding crisis, advocating for taxing the rich to fund public services and investment.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Teachers strike over 'unfair treatment' at school
Teachers at a school in Hull have walked out for a second day over the "unfair treatment" of staff, their union says. Some classes at St Andrew's CE VA Primary School, Grandale, Hull, were sent home due to strike action by National Education Union (NEU) members. Paula Burgin from the Hull branch of NEU said staff were striking over "inconsistent application of policies around pay, sickness absence and discipline that has led to unfair treatment of staff". A spokesperson from the school said the governing body was committed to work with the union to address the concerns that had been raised. Ms Burgin said the dispute formally began in March when staff put forward a list of complaints to school governors. She said policies being changed without consultation and parents complaints not being actioned were among a "plethora of issues" raised. Ms Burgin added that the resignations of two assistant head teachers in December had left "a bit of a vacuum at the top for leadership" which led to "disorganisation through the whole school". Head of religious education at the school Irene Treston-Waller said there were not enough staff to adequately supervise children during playtimes. Ms Treston-Waller, who has worked at the school for more than 12 years, said: "We are doing our best but we would really like additional support for those children who need it most. "Overall, we've got lots of issues that have been raised and I think they all need to be addressed... and in a timely fashion so that we can get on with our job which is not being in here it's being out their teaching our children." A spokesperson for the school said: "We will ensure that all parents are kept fully informed about whether there will be any further strike action, however we hope to be able to avoid this by having constructive dialogue with trade union representatives." The BBC put staff concerns to the school, but it did not address them directly. Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Teacher strike ends after 'successful' talks Pay us what we deserve, striking teachers say Teachers in England move a step closer to striking St Andrew's CE VA Primary School National Education Union
The Independent
6 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Hundreds of thousands more children to access means-tested free school meals
The government has announced a major expansion of the free school meals policy in England, set to begin at the start of the 2026 school year. Every child whose household is on universal credit will be entitled to free school meals, a change from the 2018 eligibility criteria of a household income less than £7,400 per year. The Department for Education claims the expansion will lift 100,000 Children across England out of poverty and put an extra £500 in parents' pockets. Campaigners and unions have welcomed the move, with the Child Poverty Action Group calling it a 'game-changer' and the National Education Union describing it as a 'necessary and overdue first step'. The announcement follows The Independent's Feed the Future campaign, which called for free school meals to be extended to all schoolchildren in England from households on universal credit.
The Independent
27-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Two-child benefit cap – the cost, effect and what people are saying about it
Anti-poverty campaigners have long called for the two-child cap to be scrapped, and now Reform UK has described removing it as 'the right thing to do'. Here, the PA news agency takes a look at what the policy is, the costs of doing away with it and what various parties are saying. – What is the two-child cap? The two-child cap or limit was first announced in 2015 by the Conservatives and came into effect in 2017. It restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households. It is a separate policy to the benefit cap. The benefit cap, introduced in 2013 under the then-Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government, sees the amount of benefits a household receives reduced to ensure claimants do not receive more than the limit. – What is the effect of the two-child cap? Organisations working in the sector argue that 109 children across the UK are pulled into poverty by the policy every day. Last month groups, including Unicef UK, the National Education Union, food bank organisation Trussell and the National Children's Bureau signed a letter which was handed in to the Treasury, saying the two-child limit 'has to go'. They warned: 'It cannot be scrapped for some families and not others as this would result in some of the most vulnerable families remaining in poverty – with no way to pull themselves out.' While the policy applies across the UK, the Scottish Government has pledged to mitigate the impacts for people there, although payments for this are not expected to begin until 2026. – How many children in the UK are currently living in poverty? Data published by the Government in March 2025 estimated the number of children living in poverty in the UK reached a record high. There were 4.45 million children estimated to be in households in relative low income, after housing costs, in the year to March 2024, data published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) showed. The latest figure is the highest since comparable records for the UK began in 2002/03, having risen from an estimated 4.33 million in the year to March 2023. A household is considered to be in relative poverty if it is below 60% of the median income after housing costs. – How much would it cost to scrap the cap and what would be the effect? The Child Poverty Action Group (Cpag) said its analysis suggests an estimated 350,000 children would be lifted out of poverty immediately if the policy was scrapped. Estimates for the cost of scrapping the policy vary. The Resolution Foundation think tank has estimated it would be around £3.5 billion by the end of this Parliament (2029/30). Cpag and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation have lower estimates of around £2 billion for 2025/26, rising to £2.8 billion at the end of this Parliament (2029/30). The New Economics Foundation think tank estimates a cost of £1.9 billion from April 2025, rising to £2.6 billion by 29/30. The Resolution Foundation said the differences in calculations are as a result of different methodology and also an 'inherent uncertainty' in costing the policy because it is based on predicted birth rates. – What has the Government said? Last year, before becoming Prime Minister, Sir Keir said he would scrap the two-child limit 'in an ideal world' but added that 'we haven't got the resources to do it at the moment', with ministers since then citing economic constraints. Throughout their first year in office, the Labour Government has been under pressure from campaigners to scrap the cap, as well as facing anger over winter fuel payments and controversial reforms to the welfare system. On Tuesday, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the Government's child poverty taskforce is 'certainly looking' at the policy, adding 'nothing's off the table but this is not straightforward, the costs are high'. The strategy had been due to be published in spring but has now been delayed until autumn in order to be aligned with the Chancellor's budget. – What have other parties said? Pressure has ramped up on the Government after Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said his party believes lifting the two-child benefit cap is 'the right thing to do'. Speaking at a press conference in central London, he said: 'We believe lifting the two-child cap is the right thing to do. Not because we support a benefits culture, but because we believe for lower-paid workers this actually makes having children just a little bit easier for them. 'It's not a silver bullet, it doesn't solve all of those problems. But it helps them.' He said this is 'aimed at British families'. But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has insisted the policy remains 'right' and 'fair'. She told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News: 'Nigel Farage and Keir Starmer are just saying things to people – they're not doing what is right. 'I am saying what is the right thing to do – it may not be popular, but it is absolutely the right thing to do.'
Business Mayor
26-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
A new kind of gentrification is spreading through London – and emptying out schools
T eachers at Charlotte Sharman school in south London's Elephant and Castle are on strike this week, protesting against the fact that the primary school will be forced to close at the end of term. It is one of many inner London schools facing closure as a result of a 25% drop in under-fours in some boroughs, according to the most recent census. Charlotte Sharman is just around the corner from the site of the Heygate estate, which was demolished in 2014 and replaced by Elephant Park, a development of thousands of luxury apartments, built by the Australian developer Lendlease. After the Heygate was knocked down, the school roll slumped. Elephant Park, which has won many awards for 'placemaking excellence', is seen as an exemplar of a new global regeneration industry. In place of lower- and middle-income family housing, the new neighbourhoods are typically created to include luxury apartments set in high-security privatised public space, global retail brands, pop-ups, expensive bars and restaurants, and often a university or art gallery to provide cultural capital. Today, two-bedroom apartments in Elephant Park are on sale for between £900,000 and £1m, and of the 2,704 new homes, only 82 are for social housing. Twenty-five per cent of the new homes are designated 'affordable', but since the government changed the definition of affordable in 2010 to mean up to 80% of market rent or market value, that is financially far out of reach for the majority of Londoners and their families. Alex Mees, who works for the National Education Union and is on the picket line with the protesters, says: 'They've got rid of family homes in the area and replaced them with one- or two-bedroom apartments – all the families are moving out, they should have seen this coming.' The regeneration of so many new districts, from King's Cross to the Olympic Park, is part of a larger story of the extreme gentrification of cities like London where soaring house prices are leading directly to a decline in birthrates. A study by the Affordable Housing Commission found that 13% of British adults under the age of 45 and in a couple delayed or chose not to start a family because of their housing situation – with nearly 2 million people potentially affected. But the decline is much starker in cities such as London, which are experiencing the most extreme gentrification: research showed that while the capital's overall population is rising, the numbers between the age of 25–39, the typical age of housebuying and family formation, has recently dropped by 4%, with London Councils, the body representing the city's 32 boroughs, attributing it to the shortage of family housing. Deal in Kent has been dubbed 'Hackney on Sea' thanks to the influx of millennials from London to the area. Photograph: Richard Milnes/Alamy The knock-on effects are that across the south-east, millennials are leaving London for Bristol, Brighton and seaside towns along the south coast, such as Hastings, Eastbourne or Deal. The trend for families to leave the capital is pushing up house prices in these areas and is often far from welcome, spawning the derogatory acronym DFL (Down from London), while Deal has been branded 'Hackney on Sea'. Fernanda, an architect and mother of two who lives in Hackney, described how it's not just schools, but GP surgeries and small businesses – what she calls the 'ecosystem of the city' – that are closing. 'It is getting emptier and emptier and there is a clear change in demographics happening in front of our eyes,' she says, telling me that she has been invited to two farewell picnics in the next few weeks. 'One family bought a house in Nottingham and another family are moving to Kent. It's mostly people with younger kids because they're all piled up in a small flat – my son's class is not full.' The positive rhetoric and branding of placemaking is that it transforms run-down areas into vibrant and economically successful parts of the city. The reality is that it creates sterile places, emptied of so many of the essential aspects of urban life, except the expensive activities. The city may be emptier than ever of children and families, but tables at sought-after restaurants are still booked up weeks in advance. Another category able to stay put are older people, with the census finding that the proportion of the population in every age group over 50 (except for 80-84 year olds) increased, as many of these people bought property in another era, unwittingly benefiting from huge rises in property values of up to 700%. Today, London boroughs like Southwark and Hackney are a mix of new half-empty neighbourhoods of luxury apartments, round the corner from streets of multimillion pound Georgian and Victorian homes that have soared in value alongside cramped and unaffordable private rental accommodation and a fast declining amount of social housing. The dictionary definition of sterile is 'not able to produce children or young' and children are the canary in the coalmine for what is happening to our cities. When the city is no longer able to cater to children, or the range of other diverse uses that keep communities healthy and vibrant, places don't die, but neither are they truly alive.
