TEACHING assistants have been “hung out to dry” by a council’s plans to alter their pay and conditions, it is claimed.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Owen Temple said Durham County Council had confirmed to him there was an issue with teaching assistants’ pay “years ago”, but shelved the matter until it could get union approval for a broader package of employment changes.

The union Unison has indicated strike action could be in the offing should its members reject proposals which could see their pay cut from anything between £1,500 a year to £5,000 in some cases.

Cllr Temple said: “This amounts to hanging out to dry the teaching assistants.

“As a chair of governors in a county school I am appalled that at no time over these years has the council seen fit to inform me of this.

“Now I learn that these vital school staff team members stand to lose a fifth of their pay or more.

“That can only damage morale in schools and undermine the strenuous efforts that staff and governors alike have made to raise standards across the county.”

Liberal Democrat group leader Amanda Hopgood said the council needed to withdraw its current proposal and “start again”.

Durham County Council wants to bring teaching assistants’ pay into line with the vast majority of other local councils in the region and has begun a consultation, to end on December 7.

Kim Jobson, its head of human resources, said: “The proposal is to review the terms and conditions of teaching assistants who receive a salary based on working 52 weeks a year and 37 hours a week, despite working school term-time only and 32.5 hours per week.

“The current enhanced pay arrangement is the result of a collective agreement made in 2004.

“The proposal is that any new agreement could be introduced on September 1 2016.”

The council says the aim is to “ensure equity and fairness within the workforce”. It has proposed a one off lump sum payment – the difference in salary for one year – be offered to affected employees.

The council is also encouraging schools to increase the hours of some teaching assistants from 32.5 hours to 37 hours a week so they do not see a reduction in their term time wage.

Helen Metcalf, a regional organiser with Unison, said: “We are consulting with our members over whether they wish to accept or reject the proposals, by way of an indicative ballot. Depending on the outcome of that, we may then need to move to a formal ballot for industrial action.”