Union plans further SEND strike action against Leicestershire County Council

The ongoing dispute involves Leicestershire County Council’s (LCC) Early Years SEND team, which supports children aged up to four years old with physical, sensory, behavioural and learning disabilities in various settings.

Under the proposals, the council plans to make the staff redundant before requiring them to reapply for their own roles. LCC said the proposed changes reflect rising demand for support and would ensure the service operates 52 weeks a year.

However, the National Education Union (NEU) said the move is an attempt to force specialist teachers onto “inferior” Local Government terms and conditions “forcing them to work longer hours for less pay”.

Labelling Leicestershire County Council a “rogue employer”, the NEU said the authority was using “fire and rehire tactics” against dedicated education professionals.

Strikes took place from June 8 to 12, and now the union said a further four days of action will take place on June 23 and 30, and July 1 and 7.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Caroline Guintoli, a parent who previously used the service, said: “There are going to be parents and children that will suffer dire consequences from the new proposals.”

She added: “To think that there’s children there that aren’t going to be supported now. Every [SEND] child deserves that support, that guidance, that nurturing, and that can’t be done from people that aren’t trained in this.

“The [council] need to come and see some parents and see the amount of support that is needed for these children, because just putting these rules and new things in place [won’t work].”

A Leicestershire County Council spokesperson said: “This is about making sure our most vulnerable children and families receive consistent, year-round support.

“Modernising the service will ensure we can support children with additional needs to access wraparound and holiday care which is not currently available, and we’re following the correct, legal process required to do this. To be clear, this is not ‘fire and rehire’.

“We value the professionalism of our staff and have worked closely with trade union representatives for a number of months to try to reach an agreement.

“We’re disappointed that we’ve reached the point of strike action and want to reassure parents that we will keep them informed and do our best to keep any disruption to a minimum.”

Ian Marrey, senior representation officer in the East Midlands NEU, said: “By the council’s own admission when they started this process, they were not planning on making a single person to be made redundant. When their sham restructure consultation wasn’t going their own way, they simply pivoted to a sham redundancy consultation to force their agenda through.

“Let’s be completely clear: this is fire and rehire, plain and simple. Reputable employers just don’t act this way.”