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Labour will prevent academy chains paying poverty wages while bosses pocket £150,000 salaries.

Under current rules, academies are able to set their own pay scales - meaning school staff are often paid poverty wages while chief execs get whopping six figure salaries.

It has hit teaching assistants, learning support and office staff, caretakers and others who play a vital role in improving standards in schools and freeing up teachers.

Data from the Department for Education revealed last year that 121 academy trusts pay at least one trustee or member of staff more than £150,000.

According to the ONS Teaching assistants earned just £12,134 on average in 2017.

Labour would reinstate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body, which was abolished by Michael Gove under the coalition government.

(Image: Getty)

Then then Education Secretary scrapped the body in order to de-regulate pay and allowing individual employers to set their own rates.

The government said in a statement at the time that the SSSNB "does not fit well with the government's priorities for greater deregulation of the pay and conditions arrangements for the school workforce."

But Labour slammed the decision at the time saying that the running costs of the body are negligible while negotiating on a national basis can avoid duplication and bureaucracy.

Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner announced that Labour would also introduce a maximum pay ratio in the public sector, tackling big business-style pay packages among academies.

She told the GMB Public Services Conference in Brighton: “The Labour Party will bring back genuine national pay in education.

"Not just for the teachers but for other educators too.

“We will reinstate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body.

“And we will go further.

“National pay settlements will apply to every school that is funded through our National Education Service.

“There will be no more race to the bottom in our schools, and we will end the scandal of teaching assistants on the minimum wage.”

Karen Leonard, GMB National Officer for Schools, said: “GMB members in academy schools are often paid poverty wages while bosses pocket £150,000 salaries.

“We welcome this much needed pledge from Labour to stop the kind of academy penny-pinching which sees our dedicated and professional school support staff struggling to get by.

“Ultimately, it’s our children who will suffer if school staff aren’t paid properly.”

The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.