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Open Fund £20,000 a year (term time) wage for Teaching Assistants

Created by Bethany Young
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Up Teaching Assistants' pay to a minimum of £20,000 a year (term time) to reflect the amount of work they do. It's not just displays and marking. It's challenging behaviour, teaching, marking, first aid, displays, emotional coaching and supporting children with SEN.

We believe that Teaching Assistants' job roles have changed massively over the years. It used to be that we were in to do photocopying, displays and some marking. We feel that now, many TAs must deal with a lot of children with SEN on a daily basis, without reflective pay for that. We mark, we teach, we problem solve, we deal with sick children, we work with small groups of children, we do multiple interventions, we read daily, we coach children on how to manage emotions.

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  • Government responded to this petition

    The Government is establishing the School Support Staff Negotiating Body to negotiate minimum standards for pay and conditions for our vital school support staff, including Teaching Assistants.

    Read the response in full

    Teaching Assistants (TAs) play an important role in supporting children to achieve and thrive in schools.

    That is why the Government is establishing the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB). Establishing the SSSNB was a manifesto commitment and is an important part of delivering both the government’s Plan to Make Work Pay and Opportunity Mission.

    The Employment Rights Act 2025 provides for the establishment of the SSSNB. The SSSNB will be a new statutory body specifically for school support staff. Its purpose is to bring employers and employee representatives together to negotiate minimum standards for pay and conditions for school support staff, including TAs, in all state-funded schools in England. It will also advise on training and career progression for school support staff.

    Where new minimums are set, those currently below them will see their terms improved, while those already on more favourable terms will retain them. No member of support staff will therefore see a reduction in pay, terms or conditions as a result of these reforms. At the same time, employers will retain the flexibility to offer more than the statutory minimum, enabling them to respond to local needs and labour market conditions. The introduction of national minimum pay and conditions through the SSSNB represents a significant step forward, creating a baseline of consistency and protection across the workforce for the first time.

    Secondary legislation will be required to commence and constitute the Body, and the SSSNB is expected to be established in autumn 2026.

    School support staff will continue under their existing arrangements for the 2026-27 financial year. The first improvements to support staff contracts resulting from SSSNB negotiations are expected to come into effect from the 2027-28 financial year at the earliest.

    A dedicated webpage for the SSSNB can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/school-support-staff-negotiating-body-sssnb

    We are providing schools with £700 million in additional funding in financial year 2026-27 to support them with both the costs of the schools teacher pay award and the local government services pay offer in respect of support staff in 2026-27.

    We are also investing £200 million in a new SEND training offer to upskill staff in every school, college and nursery - this will include training for teaching assistants and support them to feel confident supporting pupils with SEND. We will continue to work in collaboration with the sector over the coming months to design and develop an offer that works for staff and schools.

    This Government values and recognises the vital contributions of TAs in supporting teaching and pupils.

    Department for Education

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    If this petition gets 10,000 signatures, government will respond to it.

    If this petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

    This petition will stay open until 8 December 2026.