School caretakers are paid from the ancillary grant, which is given to all schools by the Department of Education each year based on the number of pupils enrolled in the school the previous year. This grant is also supposed to cover the wage of all ancillary staff including secretaries, cleaning staff, etc. but, in general, it doesn’t cover much of those costs unless a school pays less than minimum wage. The Department of Education does not pay caretakers directly and like the secretary episode, if I were to make this episode as short as possible, the bottom line would be that school caretakers should simply be paid directly by the Department of Education in the same way teachers and SNAs are paid directly.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit simonmlewis.substack.com/subscribe