A strike by public sector workers in London today had a "very limited" impact on the capital's schools, according to the local government association.
Some provisions had to be made for special needs pupils and in transport and catering, as a small number of staff joined the one-day strike over pay. In "exceptional cases" some children were asked to stay at home.
Members of Unison, the Transport and General Workers Union and the GMB in 33 London boroughs walked out as part of a long-running campaign for an increase in the London weighting allowance. They want the allowance to be raised to £4,000 from £2,000.
Graham Lane, chairman of the local government association's education committee, said: "The impact will be limited and patchy because many support staff are not members. There may be one or two exceptional cases - where pupils need one to one special support they may have been sent home." He added that membership of the unions is low and support for strike action is declining among members.
Teachers are also threatening to strike over the issue of London weighting. Last week the National Union of Teachers announced its intention to ballot members for a strike.
The union is demanding a substantial increase in London allowances for teachers in inner, outer and the fringe areas of London. They now receive allowances of £3,105, £2,043 and £792 respectively. This compares with £6,111 for Metropolitan Police officers.
But today Mr Lane attacked the NUT saying in meetings between the union, officials from the Department for Education and Skills and the employers early last week, no mention was made of London weighting.
"Teachers have had better pay rises than anyone else. The cost of it to London boroughs is massive. Raising salaries will mean fewer teachers, fewer support staff and greater cuts in budgets," he said.
An NUT spokesman said employers would be notified of any strike action after the ballot, and added: "Teachers' pay rises have been slightly above inflation, but not in London where house prices alone have gone rocketing. That is one of the reasons we have a shortfall of teachers in the capital, as well as around the country."
NUT members will receive ballot papers from October 11 to be returned by October 29. If successful, the strike will take place on Thursday, November 14.
