Fórsa has been engaged in discussions with the Department of Education over the past number of weeks on the SNA allocations for the next school year to ensure that SNA job security is protected.  

Now, as a result of those discussions, all SNA posts are set to be retained for the coming school year, even those identified as surplus by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE). There are approximately 70 posts in this category, following reviews by Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs).  

These posts will now be retained for the duration of the next school year, after which the new redeployment scheme will be fully operational. This means that where the SENO informed the school that an SNA post was surplus, that post will now be retained until the end of the next school year. Where a school was notified that the hours of an SNA were to be cut, that decision has been reversed and the hours will be retained.  

The new redeployment scheme will be used during the next school year to identify an alternative post for any SNA post that may be deemed to be surplus. Schools can also appeal against a decision that declares an SNA post as surplus. 

This confirms a new approach to addressing the precarious employment of SNAs. Even without a fully operational redeployment scheme an agreement is now in place to ensure that affected members are not at risk of redundancy without the safety net of redeployment being available yet.  

The NCSE has sent letters by email to schools confirming their SNA allocations, and the letter also specifies that whilst a post might be deemed surplus, it will now be retained until the end of the next school year. 

Fórsa’s head of education Andy Pike welcomed the announcement, saying:  “This has required careful and detailed discussions between the union and the department which has taken far longer than anyone wanted, however, despite the uncertainty caused by the delay, the outcome is a hard-fought win for members.” 

The additional 1600 new SNA posts will be allocated according to need with a significant number deployed to facilitate new special classes, developing schools and new special schools. More details on this will be available once the NCSE publishes the allocations to schools on their website. 

Andy went on to underline that the increase in SNAs joining the union had a big impact on this result. He said  “This agreement was only possible due to the increase in Fórsa membership amongst SNAs. The greater the number of SNAs in the union, the better the outcomes will be. This is a tangible sign that SNA terms and conditions will improve, and that the department and the government are beginning to listen to what our members have been saying for many years.” 

“Our members clearly told the department and government as a whole that if they genuinely respected SNAs, they had to demonstrate that respect by addressing precarious and insecure employment. This development is the first step towards a more secure allocation model with the same job security provided to SNAs as to their teacher colleagues.” 

Andy concluded: “We will be concluding the lengthy negotiations on the SNA Workforce Development Plan over the summer months and will report back to you on the outcomes as soon as we can.” 

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