PRESS RELEASE : Michael Gove on the abolition of the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB)

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 28 October 2010.

The Department has today confirmed that the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) will be abolished.

The Government has conducted a review of the future policy direction for determining school support staff pay and conditions, including the role of the SSSNB, and has concluded that the SSSNB does not fit well with the Government’s priorities for greater deregulation of the pay and conditions arrangements for the school workforce.

The SSSNB was established by the previous Government to develop a national pay and conditions framework for school support staff working in maintained schools in England. The Government has conducted a review of the future policy direction for determining school support staff pay and conditions, including the role of the SSSNB, and has concluded that the SSSNB does not fit well with the Government’s priorities for greater deregulation of the pay and conditions arrangements for the school workforce. I therefore propose to introduce legislation to abolish the SSSNB at the earliest opportunity.

This decision means that school support staff will continue to have their pay and conditions determined in accordance with existing arrangements whereby decisions are taken at a local level by employers.

In reaching this decision the Government has considered very carefully the views of the SSSNB Trade Union and Employer member organisations, and the SSSNB Independent Chair. I will be writing today to the Independent Chair and lead representatives of the SSSNB member organisations to notify them of the Government’s decision.