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Thousands of Dudley school staff fail to receive pay on time

Thousands of teachers and school workers across the Dudley borough failed to receive their pay on time due to a computer glitch.

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Around 6,500 workers in the borough were left without their salaries due to the 'unforeseen' technical fault, council bosses said.

Many spoke of their shock after discovering that their wages had not reached their bank accounts yesterday.

Bosses have apologised for the delay – believed to have been caused by a fault with the BACS payment system – and say they have been working to resolve the problem.

They said today that people would receive their salaries on Monday as they would need to run the BACS system again. The council has pledged to reimburse any banking charges caused by this problem and work with staff directly to offer financial assistance to those most in need.

Workers said the delay had been especially hard because October had stretched over almost five working weeks. School staff are paid on the last Thursday of each month.

Marcus Peters said his wife Shirley, a teacher at Church of Ascension Primary School in Wall Heath, had been among the thousands affected.

"It could not have happened at a worse time. We are at the end of a five-week month and people need this money. As far as I know the unions are involved. Teachers and teaching staff are obviously very angry about this."

One worker said: "Undoubtedly, this situation has not only left myself but many of my colleagues high and dry as many employees are support staff."

Confused staff also took to Twitter to find out what was happening with their wages.

Councillor Gaye Partridge, cabinet member for human resources, legal and property, said: "Due to an unforeseen fault a number of schools and teaching staff have not been paid today.

"We apologise to staff for any inconvenience and are drawing on every available resource to get the matter resolved as quickly as possible."

The issue has affected around 6,500 staff.

Anyone one with any concerns can call 01384 811300. The lines will be open for staff from 9am-8pm today and 9am-7pm tomorrow.

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