Hackney education chiefs have pocketed huge pay rises – while handing out redundancies to their staff, company documents have revealed.
Bosses at The Learning Trust have seen their salaries rise by up to £74,269 since 2005, with the highest paid director now earning £217,102 a year.
But cuts at the education authority led to more than a hundred teachers and staff leaving their jobs last year after a series of redundancies.
And unions say 30 more jobs are set to be cut, including two primary school teacher posts.
The private company, which is responsible for education in Hackney, is headed by Richard Hardie, Vice Chair of Swiss bank UBS.
It is set to come under the control of Hackney council when its contract runs out in August.
The company’s directors will get to keep the high salaries they have awarded themselves because of loopholes in employment laws – leaving the council to foot the bill.
Figures show that The Learning Trust paid out more than £600,000 to its directors last financial year.
But the company’s directors will get to keep the high salaries they have awarded themselves because of loopholes in employment laws meaning the council will foot the bill.
The authority has been slammed by the governor of a Hackney primary.
He said: “It’s disgusting that they’re on that kind of money and they’re making redundancies.”
The governor, who asked not to be named, said: “Why don’t they give themselves a pay cut instead of making low paid, hard working teachers leave their jobs?”
“It’s unfair that they should be made redundant while the directors are taking pay rises.”
Disputes over compulsory redundancies could spark strikes throughout Hackney in September this year, union sources said.
One specialist primary school teacher, who works with gypsy children , has been told he will have to work part time.
The change would cut his salary by about £20,000 a year.
Meanwhile, the same sum of money was used to boost the total salary payments for Trust directors last year.
The National Union of Teachers is set to meet officials from The Learning Trust, but a source said it was their policy to strike when compulsory redundancies are made.
He said job losses were avoidable – especially if the company directors had not taken pay rises.
The Learning Trust defended the directors’ salary rises, despite the series of job cuts.
She said: “All staff, including our directors, received the contractual yearly incremental rise which is common practice in all local government organisations.
“Due to national changes, funding and the ending of a large number of central government grants, we were required to make efficiency savings, which included a reduction in staffing levels.
“We asked for voluntary redundancies and had a good response which meant only very few compulsory redundancies were required.”
Failures
The Learning Trust was set up after Hackney council lost control over education management when it was branded the worst in the country in 1997.
The school board has overseen the setting up of the famed Mossbourne Academy and other schools in one of the most deprived areas of London.
A teacher from the academy said he had not felt the impact of redundancies yet: “We’re well protected in Mossbourne because we’re in the news a lot. But schools in Haggerston will probably be affected much more.”
The teacher, who wished to remain anonymous, added: “The Learning Trust might do a good job for Mossbourne, but do I think the people at the top are worth £217,000? Probably not.”
Hackney dad, James Governor, said he was happy for education chiefs to earn a lot.
But he added: “I do think it’s a real shame that they’ve laid people off. I know they laid off some IT staff who were doing a really good job.”
The education authority will be renamed The Hackney Learning Trust as it transfers back to the council.
The Learning Trust said that at least two out of the 16 directors are set to leave this summer.
Aggregate salary payments for the company’s directors have increased by more than a quarter of a million pounds since2005.
Hackney mum, Christine Preisig, 38, said: “I don’t think people should have salaries that high, but as long as the improvements continue maybe it is for the best.
“But from a teacher’s perspective it probably doesn’t make sense that the directors would earn so much.”
Transfer
The transfer to the council could spark problems as administrative changes affect schools, according to a Mossbourne Academy teacher.
He said: “There will be a number of tensions – the transfer is a bit of a confused picture.
“The whole point of academies is that we are meant to be outside of the system. But how is that going to work if we’re under the control of the council?”
Hackney council cabinet member for children’s services, Rita Krishna, said in January that the move would be a “smooth transfer”.
