The deal follows 18 months of talks between education personnel at Nottinghamshire County Council and the Nottinghamshire branch of Unison. At present the current pay scale for qualified and unqualified staff in the county ranges between 9,531 and 12,444, but under the new system qualified staff could earn up to 18,417.
Unison branch organiser Mike Scott last week described the deal as 'groundbreaking' and 'a breakthrough'. He said, 'For the first time there will be an overlap between nursery nurse scales and teacher scales, so there could be nursery nurses earning more than teachers. This is a significant change.'
Under the new package, grades will be based on the current 32.5-hour week and a 52-week pay year, with overtime paid at time and a half. The basic hours worked will be by agreement and may be flexible. Unison and Nottinghamshire council are also looking at ways to help unqualified staff to achieve qualified status through various options, including day-release training.
It is hoped the new deal, which is currently being put to Unison members at meetings around the county, will be in operation from September.
Mr Scott said, 'This is the final package that we've been able to negotiate with the local education authority. It's going to be positively recommended to our members by our nursery nurse stewards and we expect it to be accepted by them.
'We are very pleased with this deal. We feel it's the first time nursery nurses and classroom workers will be recognised as professionals and have a proper career structure that will pay in line with their responsibilities.'
