Farron wins meeting with Minister to discuss Teaching Assistants pay

Continuing in his campaign to prevent Cumbria's Teaching Assistants from receiving a 30% drop in pay at the hands of Cumbria County Council, Tim Farron MP has succeeded in getting local government minister Bob Neill MP, to agree to meet with himself, Cumbrian teaching assistants and the county council to help mediate and find a solution.

Speaking in local government question time in the House of Commons, Tim called on the minister to meet with himself, representatives of the local teaching assistants and members of Cumbria County Council, in order to impress on the Council how important Teaching Assistants are to the education of our children in Cumbria.

Through their strategy on single status implementation the Conservative led council have put forward plans for a significant pay cut that could result in an up to a 30% drop in income for local teaching assistants. Fears are that this unfair drop in pay might lower morale among teaching assistants that could negatively impact the quality of education for children in the Lake District.

Commenting afterwards, Tim said: "By cutting their pay by up to 30% the Council are not recognising the additional effort and hours that our teaching assistants put in to help run our class rooms so well. It is vital that we do not undervalue the contribution our teaching assistants make to ensure that our children receive the highest quality education possible.

"I am extremely pleased that the minister has agreed to meet with myself and representatives of both our local teaching assistants and the County Council to discuss the problem we are facing over teaching assistants pay. Hopefully we will come out with an end result that ensures our teaching assistants receive the recognition and pay they deserve for the hard work that they do."