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School budget cuts 'put children at risk'

2 mins read Education
Children's safety and wellbeing is being put at risk as a result of planned cuts to school office staff, it has been claimed.

A survey of more than 1,400 school administrators, business managers and finance workers by trade union Unison found they regularly carry out safeguarding duties such as organising new employee security checks and reporting welfare issues to children.

The union said that if cutbacks to these roles are made, as a result of government-enforced efficiency savings of £3bn by 2020, teachers will be left to mange these tasks on top of their teaching responsibilities.

Of the 1,417 school staff who responded to Unison's online survey, 78 per cent said they liaised directly with local authorities and charities to carry out safety checks.

A similar proportion, 71 per cent, said they ensure people vising schools are safe to do so, while 41 per cent said they investigated if new staff had previous criminal convictions.

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