TEACHERS at a Heysham school are threatening to quit because they have not been given bonus pay they say they have earned.

Staff at Heysham High say they will resign if they do not get performance related cash bonuses they were promised.

A number of teachers have complained to the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers (NAS/UWT) that they have not received the payments estimated to total around £1,000.

Head teacher David Ainsworth says that pay bonuses are coupled with targets and that, because everyone has different targets and aims, not everyone has fulfilled them.

But Lancashire NAS/UWT President and local branch secretary John Girdley has condemned both the school governors and Mr Ainsworth.

He told the Citizen: "This is one of the first such cases we have heard of in Lancashire. These are all experienced teachers. Throughout the county, we expect that most eligible teachers will get this pay award.

"It was due in September but Mr Ainsworth has dragged his heels. Staff were given no indication that they would fail and this is very demotivating for hard working teachers.

"We are not sure if this is penny pinching or settling old scores."

He says teachers at the school deserve to progress and says it has made other members of staff - looking to get the cash bonus in the future - worried.

Mr Girdley adds: "We are quite clear that the vast majority of these staff deserve to progress. Some are already talking of handing in their resignations and some are worried about the threat to their jobs. Others will certainly take the matter further.

"I already get more phone calls from staff at Heysham High than any other school in Lancaster and Morecambe. Staff morale, already low, has taken a dive."

Mr Ainsworth says that all teachers have targets and will get the merit pay if they meet them and make a substantial and sustainable contribution to the school'. But not all teachers are eligible.

He adds: " I realise that if a teacher does not get merit pay then they will be disappointed and that affects morale but it is no different to any other walk of life."