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Teaching Assistants will be nearly £3,000 a year worse off by the time the public sector pay cap is lifted, Labour analysis shows.

Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner MP will speak up for TAs, some of whom are scraping by on the minimum wage.

In her speech to the Labour Party conference today she will reaffirm her party's commitment to ending the public sector pay cap.

She will also pledge to reverse Sure Start cuts with a £500m-a-year fund, invest £13bn in school repairs and hand another £8bn to a fund for new buildings.

Analysis of GMB figures and official statistics shows that by the time the government ends the public sector pay cap in 2018 TAs will be on average £3,000 worse than in 2010 when the Tories came to power.

GMB data shows that a TA earned £16,830 in 2010, and that this rose to £17,547 in 2017.

Another year of the cap on public sector pay means that by 2018 the average TA’s wages will be £17,722 in 2018.

This is nearly £3,000 a year lower than it would have been if wage rises had kept pace with inflation.

Angela Rayner MP, will also set out plans for a School Support Staff Negotiating Body, to ensure that TAs have national bargaining and standards on pay and conditions like other parts of the public sector.

In her speech to the Labour Party’s Annual Conference, Angela Rayner MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, will say:

“Learning needs teaching. Teachers would be at the heart of the National Education Service. And we will pay them properly to do it. That is why we will bring an end to the public sector pay cap.

(Image: Ian Forsyth)

"And teaching assistants and support staff too. Many have lost so much that they are on the minimum wage. We will bring back a national standards for them too.

"They look after our children. We should look after them.”

Rehana Azam, GMB National Secretary, said: "Teaching assistants are the backbone of our classrooms.

"It's a disgrace that this government has taken the tireless work they do every day for granted.

"It's time to end poverty pay in our schools and support our dedicated public servants."