Gove leaves school workers in limbo

Workers in Merseyside remain in limbo after two schools they worked at closed and a free school opened.

The St George of England School and St Wilfrid’s High school both closed in the summer.

Workers expected that they would be transferred to the new Hawthorne’s free school under Tupe employment regulations. But the free school says it isn’t responsible for them—and Tory education secretary Michael Gove agrees.

Gove is demanding that Sefton council pays the workers redundancy money. But it is refusing—and threatens legal action to see whether Tupe regulations apply to the jobless workers.

Workers and their supporters staged protests on Thursday of last week. They are struggling to claim benefits as they haven’t officially been made redundant.