A RETIRING headmaster has warned of an exodus of teachers in the coming months unless the new Government gives them an 11th hour reprieve on the 'now or never' Tory policy on early retirement.

Peter Maylor, head of Middleforth Primary, near Preston, is finishing after nearly 15 years on August 31, just before his 50th birthday.

He says he doesn't want to go - but unless he does he has to stay for another ten years: "And that would not be good for me or for the school," he added.

Mr Maylor is one of the thousands of teachers who have been warned that if they don't take early retirement now, it's unlikely they will get another chance as after August, schools and local authorities and not the Government have to foot the bill.

But the new Government has refused to take a stance on the issue. A spokesperson from the Department of Education said: "It's too early to start speculating. At the moment the current policy still stands."

Mr Maylor warned it would cause terrible problems for school: "A lot of teachers are rushing to retire," he said. And his fears have been confirmed by reports that teaching jobs are already having to be re-advertised because there are not enough recruits to fill all the vacancies created by this mass exodus. A county council spokesperson said: "Under new arrangements a greater proportion of early retirement costs will be born by individual local education authorities."

Preston MP Audrey Wise said she would be looking to see if the policy could be reversed: "We are going to lose a lot of experienced teachers," she said: "It's forcing them to make the decision now or never."

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