Strike suspended as schools and unions meet over teachers’ pensions

National Education Union staff at the Girls’ Day School Trust institutions have been striking over the trust’s plans to withdraw from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, with staff walking out in February for the first time in the trust’s 149-year history.

The trust had argued that the costs of remaining in the scheme have become unsustainable, having jumped 49 per cent since the government raised the rates in 2019. Some 300 independent schools have either already left the scheme or have plans in place to do so.

The GDST proposed an alternative pensions package that would see staff placed in a scheme with a 20 per cent employer contribution rate “alongside other benefits”, which the trust said would “provide greater scope for a total reward package, including pay”.

The NEU rejected the proposals, however, and successfully balloted its members in November for strike action to take place across February.

Later in February, the GDST sought a compromise solution under which staff would be able to remain in the TPS until September 2023. It would also offer them a pay rise. 

The NEU said at the time it was “deeply disappointing” that the GDST had not shelved its plans to withdraw from the TPS. 

The GDST then offered staff a choice between continued membership of the TPS under “favourable terms” or a new GDST pension scheme, which the union likewise rejected, this time on the grounds that the proposals had “unknown strings attached”.

However, as reported in Tes on March 8, the union has now postponed planned strike action pending talks mediated by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, for the duration of which teachers will return to the classroom.

A GDST spokesperson said: “The GDST trustees have welcomed the opportunity of Acas collective conciliation talks with the NEU which are due to start the week commencing March 7. On this basis, the NEU has agreed to suspend strike action while talks take place, so that all our teachers can return to the classroom.

“We are approaching the Acas collective conciliation talks with confidence that we can move forward from this point and find a way through this together. The important thing is that all GDST teachers will return to their classrooms while these talks proceed, as the education of our students is our priority.”

The NEU confirmed further talks are planned.