Survey findings released by school support staff union UNISON show that 20 per cent of catering staff are on the minimum wage and a similar number have been forced to take on a second job to boost their income.
The research involved 1,220 kitchen staff working across the UK and included kitchen and catering assistants, cooks/chefs, kitchen supervisors and catering managers.
Half of the respondents have also raised concern about workload, saying that it is impossible to fulfil all their duties in their allocated hours. A third regularly do between two and five hours of unpaid overtime a week. A lack of training and the feeling that kitchen staff aren’t seen as a valued part of the school team were also cited as issues that troubled catering staff.
Register now, read forever
Thank you for visiting SecEd and reading some of our content for professionals in secondary education. Register now for free to get unlimited access to all content.
What's included:
-
Unlimited access to news, best practice articles and podcast
-
New content and e-bulletins delivered straight to your inbox every Monday and Thursday
Already have an account? Sign in here