Support staff members in the National Education Union (NEU) and UNISON have won a major victory in a landmark pay dispute with the Cathedral Schools Trust (CST), following four days of coordinated strike action across 9 schools in Bristol and North Somerset. For years, CST failed to implement the annual April pay increase for support staff until September, leaving the lowest-paid workers in the Trust underpaid for five months each year. Since 2016, this has cost support staff thousands of pounds in lost income.
We are essential to school communities, ensuring pupils are safe, supported and able to learn, yet we remain among the most undervalued workers in education. Members stressed that strike action is a last resort. As one noted, “I don't want to be on strike… However, I feel that the actions of the Trust are reprehensible.”
NEU and UNISON members took united action, demonstrating powerful trade union solidarity. “Together we stood united, empowered, and determined,” another member said. Teachers showed strong support by refusing to cross picket lines, recognising the crucial role of their support staff colleagues. Ten additional strike days were planned, but ACAS-facilitated negotiations led to a significantly improved offer, which members have now accepted. The result is clear: collective action works.
This victory highlights an urgent national concern: How many other trusts are withholding money intended for frontline school workers while senior leaders’ salaries continue to rise? The public deserves accountability, and we deserve the pay we are owed. If your pay award isn’t implemented until September, instead of April, then contact your NEU rep immediately.
The campaign gained overwhelming backing from pupils, parents, local politicians and the community, proving that the public stands firmly with the staff who keep schools running. The NEU continues to fight—and win—for all education workers.
“We fought, we won” - NEU support staff win back their wages. Vikki Franks, EYFS teaching assistant & NEU rep at Kanes Hill Primary School (Inspire Learning Partnership Trust)
What would you do if you were owed £1,290? When I found out that at my school the support staff pay award for 2024-25 was only going to be backdated to September (not April) I knew that me and my colleagues were not going to put up with missing out on wages we were owed.
The principal and the vice chair of trustees for the school weren’t interested. They even said that £1,290 wasn’t that much money! I knew that the only way to make them listen was to ballot support staff members for strike action. So that’s exactly what I did. Every single support staff NEU member at my two-form entry primary school (both classroom and non-classroom based) all voted in favour of strike action.
What we achieved
The trust conceded to every demand before the first strike day:
- Backdated pay: a special recognition payment backdated to April.
- A permanent policy change: ensuring that all future support staff pay awards will be backdated to April. 3. Trade Union Recognition Agreement (TURA): from September 2025, all schools in the trust will have trade union recognition.
NEU support staff members won, and NEU membership at my school more than doubled as a result.
“This wasn’t just about pay – it was about knowing our worth.” – Vikki
If the pay award for support staff at your school isn’t being backdated to April 2024, we urge you to fight back.