Council accused of deducting wage of cleaner sent to closed Yorkshire school in blizzard

Someone from a cleaning team posted an anonymous open letter in the Rotherham Advertiser a couple of weeks ago saying that they had been booked as “a non-authorised absence” when all schools were shut due to the bad weather in March.

In the letter, the person claimed that they were asked to walk to a “locally run RMBC school” after they had not been able to attend their regular designated spot.

The letter states it took them 45 minutes to get to the premises just to find out all schools in the borough remained closed.

When they received the payslip for the month of March, “a non-authorised absence” was booked – essentially deducting the cleaner’s wage for not working on the day.

In the open letter, the cleaner says: “It was not my fault that we had all of the snow and schools deemed it to be a health and safety issue for all staff and children if they had opened the school on this date.”

The Local Democracy Service asked Rotherham Council if they were aware of this person’s complaint and why they weren’t informed about a borough-wide school closure.

Rotherham Council’s Assistant Director for Planning, Regeneration and Transport, Simon Moss, said: “The Council appreciates the efforts of all our staff, particularly during times of adverse weather when we know many staff go above and beyond what is normally asked of them, to support our residents.

“During a snow event, we would only direct staff to a school that was known to be open. If an employee was asked to attend a school closer to home, the employee would still be paid if that school then subsequently closed.

“On March 10, snowfall continued to fall throughout the morning which ultimately resulted in all schools being closed.

“As we do not have a record of the staff member’s concerns, we would very much welcome the employee having a conversation with their line manager or Head of Service, so that this matter can be looked into further.”