Key Points
- Action planned: Over 1,000 school support staff across south London are set to strike, impacting more than 30 schools in Merton and Greenwich.
- Core grievance: Support staff are paid at outer London weighting rates, whereas teachers working in the exact same schools receive higher inner London pay rates.
- Demonstration route: Striking workers plan to rally outside Parliament before marching to the Department for Education (DfE) and culminating in Trafalgar Square.
- Historical root: The wage discrepancy dates back to the 1990 abolition of the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA), which retained inner London rates for teachers but not for support staff.
- Local government response: Both Merton Council and Greenwich Council stated that the pay gap cannot legally or financially be solved at a local authority level and requires a national remedy.
- Ministerial engagement: The GMB union stated it requested a meeting with Education Secretary Lucy Powell, but has yet to receive a response.
Merton and Greenwich (South London News) October 9, 2026 – More than 1,000 school support staff across two south London boroughs are expected to walk out on strike in an ongoing industrial dispute over London weighting pay allowances, threatening widespread disruption across local educational institutions. The planned industrial action, organized by the GMB trade union, involves teaching assistants and administrative personnel from more than 30 schools across the London Borough of Merton and the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The dispute centers on a long-standing pay anomaly whereby school support personnel are remunerated at outer London weighting rates, while teachers employed within the very same educational establishments receive higher inner London weighting pay.
Protesting workers are scheduled to assemble outside the Houses of Parliament before conducting a formal demonstration march directly to the Department for Education headquarters and proceeding toward Trafalgar Square. The strike action reflects deep-seated frustrations regarding the disparity in regional cost-of-living allowances, with union representatives highlighting the sustained financial pressures faced by low-paid educational support personnel in the capital.
Why are south London school support staff going on strike?
The immediate catalyst for the industrial action is the discrepancy between the financial allowances provided to teaching staff and those allocated to non-teaching personnel. Support staff, including teaching assistants, special educational needs assistants, and administrative staff, perform their daily duties in geographical zones classified for inner London weighting for teaching staff, yet their own remuneration packages remain capped at lower outer London tiers.
According to official statements from the GMB union, this structural division leaves support staff significantly disadvantaged during an ongoing climate of heightened living costs across Greater London. The union emphasized that workers from 28 schools in the London Borough of Merton alongside additional schools in Greenwich will participate in the walkout. This follows previous industrial action taken by Merton support staff who previously walked off the job over similar grievances.
As reported by Nadine Houghton, Regional Secretary for the GMB union, union leadership formally requested an audience with Education Secretary Lucy Powell to allow affected workers to state their position directly. Houghton stated that members wished to speak to Powell regarding “the hardship they have been experiencing for years.” Houghton further noted that “unfortunately, even though we will be marching right by her department, we are yet to hear back from her.”
How have local councils responded to the union demands?
Local authority leaders in both affected boroughs expressed understanding regarding the grievances expressed by staff, while simultaneously maintaining that local councils lack the statutory power and financial reserves to resolve the issue independently.
As reported by an official spokesperson for Merton Council, the local authority supports the broader principle of equitable remuneration but remains legally constrained. The Merton Council spokesperson stated that the authority supports the case for fair pay but “cannot legally fund this increase at local level.” The spokesperson added that the GMB union had put forward an alternative request for a one-off supplementary payment, which the council declined to endorse due to the potential “knock-on consequences for other council services and residents.”
The Merton Council representative further explained the administrative mechanics of educational funding, stating:
“Pay for support staff is negotiated nationally. It is funded through government grants, and so a fair and permanent solution must be found at national level.”
The spokesperson confirmed that Merton Council has formally raised the issue with central government officials, is collaborating with neighboring London boroughs affected by the same structural issue, and intends to pursue long-term solutions via a newly proposed national negotiating body for school support staff.
Simultaneously, as reported by an official spokesperson for Greenwich Council, the local authority emphasized the importance of maintaining educational continuity for children in the borough. The Greenwich Council spokesperson stated:
“We respect the right of unions to take industrial action. However, the best place for children is in the classroom, and we hope for constructive discussions to minimise disruption to pupils.”
Background to the London weighting pay dispute
The structural imbalance between teacher pay rates and support staff allowances in certain south London boroughs is rooted in the statutory restructuring of London local government during the late 20th century.
The primary historical cause of the present dispute stems directly from the abolition of the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) in 1990. Prior to its dissolution, ILEA administered education across inner London, applying uniform inner London weighting pay structures across the entirety of its workforce.
When ILEA was formally dissolved under the terms of the Local Government Act 1985 and its responsibilities transferred to individual London borough councils, transitional arrangements preserved inner London weighting allowances for qualified teaching personnel in outer-fringe zones such as Merton and Greenwich. However, equivalent protections were not extended to non-teaching support staff. Over the subsequent decades, national collective bargaining frameworks perpetuated this distinction, resulting in the current scenario where two workers operating within the same classroom environment are subject to two entirely different regional cost-of-living pay tiers.
Prediction: How will this development affect local communities and the education sector?
The impending industrial action and the ongoing structural dispute over London weighting are anticipated to impact multiple stakeholder groups across the region:
- Impact on parents and families: The primary short-term consequence will be logistical disruption for families across Merton and Greenwich. As individual schools assess staffing ratios, partial or complete school closures will force parents to arrange emergency childcare or take time off work. Given that support staff play critical roles in pupil supervision and classroom assistance, many primary schools and special educational needs (SEN) provisions cannot legally or safely open without adequate support coverage.
- Impact on students: Educational progress may face minor short-term interruptions. As highlighted by Greenwich Council, classroom absence directly affects learning continuity. The absence of specialized teaching assistants will disproportionately affect pupils requiring dedicated learning support or behavioral assistance.
- Impact on support staff and union dynamics: Should the strike demonstrate significant turnout and force national intervention, it could establish a precedent for similar support staff disputes across other London perimeter boroughs facing identical ILEA-legacy pay anomalies. Conversely, if central government ministers refuse to engage in direct negotiations, prolonged or repeated industrial action may follow, increasing financial strain on low-income support workers participating in unpaid strike days.
- Impact on central and local government policy: The dispute exerts pressure on the Department for Education and central government negotiators to accelerate the establishment of the proposed national negotiating body for school support staff. If local councils continue to assert legal inability to fund local adjustments, central government will face mounting pressure from borough leaders to reclassify local weighting boundaries or expand national grant allocations to resolve long-standing historical pay disparities.
