AN ACADEMY trust which runs 70 schools in England has been accused of withholding £1.5 million in back pay owed to its education support staff.

Public-sector union Unison says the United Learning Trust (ULT) has failed to fully implement a 2022-23 national pay increase for teaching assistants, librarians, school technicians and other support staff, and owes more than 3,000 workers £800 each.

The union said the deal was agreed with the national negotiating body the Local Government Association (LGA).

But it said ULT fully implemented the deal only for staff at schools which were previously under local authority control and whose pay rise was backdated to April last year. Others received the increase from November.

Unison head of education Mike Short said: “Every penny counts for low-paid workers, and even more so during the cost-of-living crisis.

“Support staff at the trust can’t afford to lose money they’re owed. They’ve earned it and desperately need to pay their bills.

“It’s grossly unfair for staff to do the same job as colleagues for less pay. 

“The academy trust must right this wrong and make sure all support workers are paid the same.”

ULT is an education charity and England’s largest academy trust, with responsibility for 40,000 students.

The government is forcing academisation on local authority schools, handing control to boards of directors who can set pay rates, employ whom they choose and award themselves salaries. 

It intends all local authority schools to become academies by 2030.

A spokesperson for United Learning said: “We are, quite rightly, following the legally agreed negotiation process that we have in place for staff on United Learning contracts. No money is being withheld. No back pay is owed.

“Support staff on United Learning contracts have different terms and conditions to the local government terms and conditions. Amongst a very large number of other differences in the contracts are that the pay review date is September not April – which means that every year, not just this year, the pay rise happens in September, as with teachers.

“Each contract has its own legally binding negotiating process. We are following that process as we do every year. It is sad that, Unison are [...] inventing a dispute where none exists.”