The Girls’ Day School Trust has made a new offer to teachers in its schools in an effort to ward off more planned strikes this week, the TES reports.
Under the new offer, teachers in the group would be able to stay in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) until September 2023 and would receive an as yet undisclosed pay rise.
However, a union leader said the offer was not enough and a planned strike will still go ahead tomorrow and Thursday, following action earlier this month.
Dozens of private schools have left the TPS since the government raised the rate of employers’ contributions by 43 per cent in 2019. State schools were covered for the increase but private schools were not.
The GDST says it is “ready to talk” to teachers about the details of the offer.
It said in a statement: “We know teachers will want time to consider the new proposal and we are ready to talk these through in detail. The GDST remains committed to reaching a settlement.”
It added that it cared “deeply” about its teachers and would not have put forward the proposals unless it felt they were “absolutely necessary”.
Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, said it was “very disappointing” that the GDST had not reversed their decision to withdraw from the TPS.
She said: “This offer gives our members no reassurance that the TPS will remain in place and the strike action will go ahead on this week.”
Last week, TES revealed that a former CEO of GDST, Michael Oakley, had written to the trust condemning the plans to leave the TPS, saying it could “easily afford” the difference in cost between the TPS and alternative schemes.
