ICYMI: Highland Council cuts to education support are branded ‘shameful’ by Inverness councillor
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A HIGHLAND Council announcement about cuts which impact pupils needing additional support needs (ASN) in classrooms has been blasted as “shameful spin to try and save face”.
This week the council declared “there will be minimal impact on pupil support assistant (PSA) posts” as the equivalent of 63 full-time posts out of more than 1100 were to go – “far fewer than originally expected”.
The reductions will come through redeployment and almost 51 vacant PSA positions “deleted” with PSAs getting “priority to redeploy”.
But Inverness South councillor Andrew Jarvie, who has been active in trying to support the ASN provision in the Highlands, said that was entirely the wrong way to look at it and the council has already been warned about it.
“This is just shameful spin to try and save face. This council focuses on the impact to the directorate itself and not on the delivery of that service to its users.
“Just deleting 50 posts which were vacant does not alleviate the concerns of parents and children that they will not get support.
“This council brought in a recruitment freeze last year which created these vacancies, just deleting these posts only means that children who were not getting support as a result will now definitely not get that support.”
He added: “This is not the end to the ASN cuts, the next two years are going to be twice as hard.
“This administration should be focusing on saving money from the tangled web of management, but instead it chose to eviscerate front-line support.”
Carrie Watts – who is a mother of two autistic sons, Noah (5) and Joseph (10), who both need “substantial support” at Inshes Primary in Inverness – has been campaigning against the cuts. She described the latest move as “shocking and insulting”.
“The fact that there are currently 50 open spots means our children are already at a deficit in support. We, as parents, already know this. We see the pressures on the schools and teachers in the classrooms to support students, without adequate resource,” she said.
“We have to be understanding of the lack of resource because we know it affects every child, not just our own. That said, the attitude that simply by removing those unfilled 50 positions in anyway addresses the core issue – the issue of the council’s obligation to provide an education and support to all children – is shocking and insulting.
“They have not shifted their understanding or their approach at all. They are trying to reframe the discussion to be about ‘saving jobs’. While I would applaud that attitude, if it were genuine, conflating the issue of full-time equivalent positions – a completely different number to total headcount, as is rightly highlighted with adequate pupil support is misleading and disingenuous.”
A council spokeswoman said: “We have committed to avoiding compulsory redundancies. PSAs will be given priority to move into new and vacant posts and they will be offered one-to-one discussions with a HR adviser if they wish, as well as access to a career coach and a guaranteed interview for any relevant post arising. Only one per cent of PSA staff are required to move into new roles – far fewer than originally expected.”
Council budget leader Alister Mackinnon said: “We have been working closely with staff, trade unions and interest groups as we are determined [to see] how best to meet the ASN allocation requirements.”
