A LEADING trade union has claimed Inverclyde Council is ‘massively underestimating’ the scale of violence and threats faced by local school support staff after it emerged that hundreds of incidents were reported last year.

Records released by Inverclyde Council reveal 237 incidents of violence, threats or verbal abuse were reported by school staff in 2023, along with 94 involving council staff in other departments.

But GMB Scotland says its members believe the figures are 'alarmingly inaccurate' - and that the council's statistics represent only a fraction of the incidents taking place.

OTHER NEWS: Inverclyde Council consults on plans for £20m regeneration cash

The union, which represents pupil support assistants, janitors, admin and catering workers, said the figures hugely underestimate the scale of the crisis.

They pointed to higher incident totals recorded by other councils such as Glasgow and Edinburgh, which recorded more than 4,000 incidents involving school staff - almost 20 times more than in Inverclyde.

Claire Greer, GMB organiser in Inverclyde Council, said: “The number of incidents recorded here compared to other councils is alarmingly low and, our members suggest, alarmingly inaccurate.

“If the council is not collecting reliable data reflecting the violence and threats endured by staff, then they will be unable to gauge the risk facing them and offer proper protection.

“The numbers from other councils are underestimating the scale of that crisis, but in Inverclyde they are not even the tip of the tip of the iceberg.

“Rather than taking any comfort from having lower figures than elsewhere, the council needs to understand they are inaccurate.

“That must change as a matter of urgency.

"Staff must be given the time and encouragement to report incidents properly, and should expect those incidents to be properly investigated and acted on.”

Ms Greer added: “No worker should go to their work in fear and feel relief if they arrive home unhurt.

“No one should be asked to go to their work to be punched, kicked, bit, spat on, and expecting to suffer verbal or physical abuse.

“Our members do not feel the authorities are tackling, or even recognising the violence in schools, but are instead glossing over it and allowing it become normalised.”

In response to GMB’s claims, councillor Jim Clocherty, Inverclyde Council’s education convener, said: “The safety and wellbeing of staff and pupils at our schools is of the utmost importance.

“Any form or violence or unacceptable behaviour should not and will not be tolerated and any incidents will be fully investigated and appropriate action taken where necessary.

“There are robust procedures in place to deal with any incidents of physical or verbal abuse in our schools, and we provide support to our staff to deal with all incidents.

“Staff are actively encouraged to report any incidents, no matter how minor they feel the incident was, to ensure the matter can be properly investigated and action taken as required to prevent such an incident happening in future.

“We continue to work closely with trade unions, including the GMB, to ensure staff use the reporting mechanisms that are in place and we would welcome the support of the GMB to encourage their members to report incidents to allow us to act on them.”

Paula McEwan, local association secretary in Inverclyde with the EIS teaching union, said: "GMB are right in their assertion that work shouldn't hurt.

“There is recognition across the system that there has been an increase in violent and aggressive incidents in our schools and there is an acknowledgement of under-reporting of incidents. EIS are working at a national and local level to help address that.

“Following the release of our Stand Up for Quality Education pupil behaviour survey results, the EIS has worked closely with Inverclyde Council's education services and HR, through LNCT, to promote and publicise the importance of recording and reporting each incident to all education staff.

"This has seen an increase of over 100 per cent in the figures reported through our health and safety committee.

“Although this gives a more accurate picture of what is taking place in our schools, there is still work to be done, and we will work closely with our trade union colleagues and wider stakeholders to further develop local reporting and feedback systems."

Lorraine Thomson, chair of UNISON Scotland’s education issues group, also said the figures showed an ‘unacceptable level of violence and aggression’ in schools.

She added: “UNISON know that too often school support staff don’t get time and any access to a laptop to report incidents, frequently they also don’t get any response when they do report incidents and are usually not involved in debriefings.

“This means support staff are discouraged from reporting assaults as they don’t see it making a difference.

“That’s why our ending violence in schools campaign is now focussing on ensuring support staff, who are often the worst affected, are fully involved in debriefings and response strategies. Every incident is one too many.

“Our local UNISON branch will continue to push the council in our ongoing discussions to do everything possible to reduce violence and aggression in our schools.”