Best Practice

The teachers who can’t afford to eat or live

Staff wellbeing Pupil wellbeing
A charity has warned of a ‘growing trend of poverty’ among teachers after it handed out £120,000 of support grants in 10 months. It says that in some cases the money has been for teachers unable to afford accommodation or food. Dorothy Lepkowska reports.

Victoria Scott had enjoyed a successful 20-year career in teaching. But in the past two months she has been forced to accept £900 in hand-outs to buy food and other essentials, and to cover the costs of declaring herself bankrupt.

The money came from the Teacher Support Network (TSN), which published details last week of the financial hardship being endured by some teachers. 

The organisation awarded nearly £120,000 between September 2012 and June 2013 to teachers in financial difficulty. In 77 out of the 200 cases it was to people who were unable to afford to pay for food and accommodation. Overall, 61 cases were serving teachers.

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