The Harris Federation, one of England鈥檚 biggest trusts, has scaled back redundancy plans at 20 of its schools. Schools Week revealed last month that 45 jobs were at risk across Harris, with blaming 鈥渆xtremely challenging鈥 budgets caused by 鈥渦nfunded鈥 pay and national insurance rises. After National Education Union members in four academies balloted for strike action, the trust confirmed the number of job cuts has been reduced to 15 鈥渙ut of a teaching workforce of 2,650鈥. But Daniel Kebede, the NEU鈥檚 general secretary, said that a loss of 15 frontline teaching staff meant a “cut to children鈥檚 education鈥. In a letter last month about the redundancies, Harris said it was 鈥渇acing an unfunded pay rise for teachers of 2.8 per cent and for support staff of 3.2 per cent, which we will have to fund from existing budgets鈥. It also faced a 鈥渃ritical drop in income as, like nearly all London schools, we are experiencing a significant drop in our rolls resulting from the falling birth rate and therefore we have no extra income to offset costs鈥. Union claims Harris ‘backed down’ Since then, the government has approved a 4 per cent pay rise for teachers and provided some extra funding 鈥 but Harris said schools still had to find 2.3 per cent of the rise themselves. Kebede claimed the NEU ballots resulted in the trust 鈥渂acking down鈥. Daniel Kebede Pointing to chief executive Sir Dan Moynihan鈥檚 拢515,000 pay packet, he said that 鈥渁ttempts to make financial savings at the coal face [are] unacceptable from a chief executive who earns over half a million鈥. “The underhand practices of individually targeting staff must end, and open and transparent negotiations with staff trade unions must begin to avoid any future redundancies that will directly impact on pupils鈥 learning.鈥 The 15 planned redundancies are spread across 11 secondaries. A Harris spokesperson said that when the consultation was initially announced 鈥渨e said that we hoped the final number would be lower, with some affected staff redeployed to other roles and others due to leave or retire鈥. The trust was doing everything it could to support staff in the 15 roles. Harris said it excluded overseas-trained teachers without leave to remain in the UK and those on maternity leave from redundancy.