Working more hours than contracted for

[sarahfrostie]

Hi all, need some help!

 

I work in a school, and from March 15 2010 I was contracted to work 20 hours a week. My role was a teaching assistant working one to one with a child with behavioural issues. Now here is the problem. For some silly silly reason, I believed I worked 27 1/2 hours (as these were the hours from my previous job also in a school) which meant i started at 9:00am and finished at 3:00. The head teacher and deputy head who were on my interviewing panal knew my hours were 20 hours a week. I worked in the same classroom as the deputy head. I was never told when I started work and when I finished work. So every day I worked from 9am-3pm. I did so until school ended in July. I also attended a behavioural school with this child 2 days a week where I had to work 9am-3pm.

 

At the end of my contract I was offered a new one for September which was a 20 hour contract. I went to see my headteacher to ask whether it could be changed to a 27 1/2 hour contract (which is what I believed I was on at the time) as I couldn't afford to drop my hours, which she agreed with and said I could have the hours remain the same. so she believed I was on 27 1/2 hours.

 

I rang my local council and they said I should be able to be compensated for the extra hours that I worked, my school should just get in contact. The school have ignored my queries on the subject. The money I was paid from came from a pot of money for the statemented child.

 

What do I do?

[Philip23]

All the schools in the area I live in are controlled by the Governing Body - not the LA. Therefore it's the school that owes you this money.

 

This happened to one of our LSAs, and our school made a back payment. While it must have been difficult for you to ask about payment, you should have made your enquiry earlier. Having said this, personally, I think you should receive a back payment.

 

With regards to statements - there is no "pot" and if a child needs a support worker, the cost is met by the school. It did used to be the case that the LA funded statemented children, but this is not the case now. We have two statemented children in my school, and both the support workers are funded, with great difficultly by the school. This was yet another wonderful Central Government Initiative about "Inclusion" of children with severe learning difficulties into mainstream schools, which is an brilliant idea, but bit by bit the funding has fallen to the current situation whereby there is no funding or support for children in mainstream schools with severe learning difficulties.

 

I suggest you have another informal word with the Headteacher, and if nothing is forthcoming perhaps raise a grievance, which may be difficult for you given you've been in the school for such a short time.

 

Best of luck.

[SarEl]

Whilst you can certainly raise a grievance, I don't think that the school is under anything but a moral obligation to pay you. The fact that you believed you worked more hours isn't really relevant, because there must have been contractual terms, in the advert, in the contract, or somewhere - because you said that the head and deputy head both knew that the terms were 20 hours per week. And it is as much your responsibility as the employers to know what your working hours are. There was no agreement in place to compensate you for additional hours worked, so much will depend on whether the governing body are minded, or can afford, to pay you for these extra hours, I suspect.

[kardashian1]

you should never work extra hours with any employer if they do no pay you, otherwise your basically working like a slave - for nothing

 

make sure before you work any extra hours that you will be paid time and half or double time as is the legal requirment

[SarEl]

 

make sure before you work any extra hours that you will be paid time and half or double time as is the legal requirment

 

There is no such legal requirement. Overtime may be paid at single time - and many people are obliged to work contractual overtime for no pay at all.