TEACHING assistants have issued a last-ditch plea to councillors not to impose controversial new contracts, amid claims they are already on a lower pay-grade than their counterparts across the North-East.

Durham County Councillors will today (May 16) vote on a fiercely-opposed plan to terminate the contracts of 2,700 teaching assistants (TAs) in order to introduce new terms and conditions.

The authority claims the move would ensure fairness and parity across its staff but trade union Unison says it would amount to a pay cut of up to 25 per cent - and if given the green light could result in strike action.

Currently the council says TAs are paid for working 37 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, but in fact work 32.5 hours a week during school term time only.

But TAs have criticised the council for being "misleading" and "disingenuous", claiming their contracts state they are expected to work 32.5 hours a week for a given salary.

They say they signed contracts "in good faith" and any ambiguity over hourly rates should have been flagged up in a job evaluation undertaken by the council in 2012.

A decision on the new contracts, which could be implemented in January 2017, will be made at an extraordinary meeting of the council in County Hall, Durham, today.

The Northern Echo has been inundated by TAs who say they will have to work longer hours for less money, and urging councillors to reject the plan.

Ellie Stevens said: "We accepted this job as the conditions which were advertised - 32.5 hours a week, whole time."

A school governor, whose wife is a teaching assistant, added: "It's going to affect morale, they will lose people they have invested in and it will impact on children."

Liberal Democrat County Councillor Owen Temple is supporting their campaign, and said research showed TAs in the county had the lowest pay grade in the North-East.

Although some local authorities had pay grades as low as County Durham for some TAs, he added: "Every other council pays level two teaching assistants more, with starting salaries that range from ten per cent to 30 per cent more on an annualised basis."

One TA, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "Because of the higher grade their salary works out equal to our current salary. If this was to go ahead we would be thousands of pounds below them."

However in response to this, the council has stated that its own research found that "there is a range of pay levels associated with teaching assistants on a regional basis and the council (DCC) grades are comparable with several of these.”

The authority says independent legal advice confirms existing arrangements leave it at risk of equal pay challenges that would result in significant costs to the council.

Cllr Jane Brown, cabinet member for corporate services, added: "The external legal advice and the advice that we have from our statutory officers is clear and, while this is not a position we would wish to be in, we must now consider introducing these changes by ending existing contracts and replacing them with the amended ones."