SCHOOL catering assistants forged ahead with a fight to increase an “insulting” equal pay settlement today.

The former Allway Primary kitchen staff demonstrated outside Newport City Centre after being offering just £225 as part of the settlement in April.

They argue they should have received thousands of pounds like cooks and under cooks in Newport school kitchens.

One of the protestors, grandmother Lynette Sims, of Aberthaw Road, Newport, worked as a catering assistant at Alway Primary School for nearly two decades.

Ms Sims, 59, said: “We did a lot of the cooking. We stepped up when cooks and under cooks were off. We had to do the job for them.

“We should have got at least two to three thousand pounds. Our jobs was under valued. We were the backbone of the kitchen.”

The three protesters handed in a letter to the council at the civic centre on Friday asking why their jobs were “under valued” and said the settlement was "insulting".

A Newport council spokeswoman said early this month: “Due to the confidential nature of this matter, it is not appropriate for Newport City Council to comment.”