More strikes set for England’s largest exam board
Hundreds of staff at exam giant AQA will strike for four more days over an ongoing pay row. Around 400 members of Unison will walk out on Friday after AQA leaders refused to meet for talks to discuss an alleged 10 per cent real-terms cut to staff wages over the last five years. The union is calling for pay restoration, which it previously said would require a 7.3 per cent rise this year. AQA issued what it described as a “generous” 5.2 per cent average increase instead. Unison warned the action could cause delays to students receiving their results this summer – but the exam board claimed the series will still be delivered “smoothly”. Walkouts at AQA HQ Assessors, exam paper authors and customer service staff will take part in the strikes from June 5 to 8 across three AQA sites, including its Manchester headquarters, as well as its offices in Guildford and Milton Keynes. The dates have been chosen to disrupt training for examiners planned to take place this weekend. It follows three days …

