£5m bill for city schools

Headteachers will be responsible for finding the money from their own budgets, raising fears it could affect the education of children in the city. Some staff, including dinner ladies and cleaners, are set to earn windfalls of up to £10,000 in back pay after a national legal ruling that certain workers were not being paid enough.

Council chiefs in the city are trying to find ways to cushion the blow to prevent the bill hitting the education of children in Wolverhampton.

Wolverhampton Council spokesman Tim Clark revealed: “The schools’ bill here will be £5 million and it will be up to the schools to find this money. We are trying to find a solution that makes the burden as easy to bear as possible.”

Sandwell schools are reeling after being told they have to find £35 million in backpay, raising fears it could cost 500 school jobs. 

The bill in Wolverhampton is considerably less because most of the underpaid staff are contracted to the council and so most of the shortfall is the responsibility of the local authority. Schools in the city are only likely to be held responsible for settling the underpaid salaries of workers on their payrolls.

School bosses and union leaders will discuss the crisis at a meeting on Monday.

Unison spokeswoman Tracy Morgan said: “We do not want one person’s back pay to become another person’s redundancy.”

Councillor Christine Irvine, schools cabinet member said: “I am confident that we can come up with a solution that will ensure children do not suffer.”