DAVID WILLIAMS CALLS ON CHESHIRE EAST TO PLAY FAIR WITH SCHOOL CARETAKERS ON ELECTION DAY

David Williams, Labour's Parliamentary Candidate for Crewe and Nantwich, calls on Cheshire East Council to play fair with schools and school caretakers on Election Day

Cheshire East Council stand accused of ‘penny-pinching’ in their treatment of schools and school caretakers where the school is used as a Polling Station on Election Day. Typically a school caretaker will work from 7.30am until 6.00pm. If the school is being used as a Polling Station, the caretaker will be required work as normal and to be on-call for the full opening hours of the election. Polling Stations will be open from 7.00am until 10.00pm, but Cheshire East Council is only proposing to pay an extra half-hour at the start and an extra hour at the end of the day. This means that caretakers will be required to be on call for an extra four hours without any form of ‘on-call allowance’.

David Williams said, “I deplore this exploitation of school staff by Cheshire East Council. I understand that some School Governors are so concerned at the failure of the Council to play fair with their caretakers that they are proposing to pay the difference from their own budgets. Whilst I commend the actions of the Governors, I am concerned that the payments will be taken from their school funds. It is entirely wrong to force schools to use funds that should be used for educational purposes. The council should be making these payments direct.”