CUMBRIA COUNTY COUNCIL TEACHING ASSISTANTS

That this House notes with concern the significant drop in pay proposed by Cumbria County Council for Cumbria's teaching assistants, which could potentially lead to a 30 per cent. drop in income; recognises that teaching assistants play a vital role in educating our children; believes that a significant cut in pay would hugely undervalue the contribution of teaching assistants in Cumbria and would effectively deprofessionalise the profession; further believes that this drop in pay is fundamentally unfair on teaching assistants and will reduce morale which will negatively impact on the quality of education for children; and calls on Cumbria County Council to rethink its strategy on single status implementation.