Timetable needed for fixing RAAC crisis

The NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union is calling on the Government to urgently publish a timetable for both the surveying of schools potentially containing RAAC, and for remedial work in any school found to contain the crumbling concrete.

The Union is further asking the Government to commit to a public enquiry into how this crisis was allowed to happen so that lessons can be learned for the future.

The NASUWT has condemned the Government’s handling of the RAAC crisis at TUC Congress in Liverpool today.

Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary said:

“The Government’s handling of the RAAC crisis to date has been characterised by delays, obfuscation and attempts to shift the responsibility for fixing these problems onto schools.

“Pupils, parents and school staff across the country have been left in state of anxiety and limbo as they wait to find out whether their schools are safe or not.

“They need and deserve a clear timetable and plan for assessing and dealing with RAAC.

“In order to help ensure such a scandal can never happen again we need a commitment to a public inquiry which can examine how this situation was allowed to occur.

“The scandalous condition of our school buildings riddled with RAAC and asbestos in disrepair must be addressed in the interests of children and young people.

“We are shocked to learn that a number of schools funded by the DfE and built by Caledonian Modular since 2020 have been condemned as unsafe, closed or knocked down before they opened.

“The safety of pupils and school staff should not be left to chance. The Government must explain how shoddy and unsafe buildings have been allowed to be erected in the first instance and who has been left with the bill to pay for these mistakes.”

Mark Morris, NASUWT National Executive Member, who spoke to TUC Congress on RAAC, said:

“If the Government had properly invested in the schools estate or taken the required steps when the problems first became apparent it wouldn’t have come to this. If Government hadn’t cut the HSE and local authority inspectors it wouldn’t have come to this.

“If Government hadn’t stopped Labour’s Building Schools for the Future programme we would have replaced countless numbers of these buildings, we would have reduced or removed the asbestos that remains in 75% of our schools.

“Instead we have a building programme that, at the current rate, will take 450 years to make our schools safe for our children.”