diff --git a/config/alfresco/extension/scheduled-action-services-context.xml.sample b/config/alfresco/extension/scheduled-action-services-context.xml.sample
index 674aa84b5b..1a24eb50ad 100644
--- a/config/alfresco/extension/scheduled-action-services-context.xml.sample
+++ b/config/alfresco/extension/scheduled-action-services-context.xml.sample
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@
                     <key>
                         <value>{http://www.alfresco.org/model/content/1.0}categories</value>
                     </key>
-                    <value>${selectSingleNode('workspace://SpacesStore', 'lucene', 'PATH:"/cm:generalclassifiable/cm:Languages/cm:English"' )}</value>
+                    <!-- Note - FreeMarker ${..} entries must be escaped in Spring context files -->
+                    <value>\$\{selectSingleNode('workspace://SpacesStore', 'lucene', 'PATH:"/cm:generalclassifiable/cm:Languages/cm:English"' )\}</value>
                 </entry>
             </map>
         </property>
@@ -95,19 +96,22 @@
                     <key>
                         <value>destination-folder</value>
                     </key>
-                    <value>${selectSingleNode('workspace://SpacesStore', 'lucene', 'PATH:"/app:company_home"' )}</value>
+                    <!-- Note - FreeMarker ${..} entries must be escaped in Spring context files -->
+                    <value>\$\{selectSingleNode('workspace://SpacesStore', 'lucene', 'PATH:"/app:company_home"' )\}</value>
                 </entry>
                 <entry>
                     <key>
                         <value>assoc-type</value>
                     </key>
-                    <value>${node.primaryParentAssoc.typeQName}</value>
+                    <!-- Note - FreeMarker ${..} entries must be escaped in Spring context files -->
+                    <value>\$\{node.primaryParentAssoc.typeQName\}</value>
                 </entry>
                 <entry>
                     <key>
                         <value>assoc-name</value>
                     </key>
-                    <value>${node.primaryParentAssoc.QName}</value>
+                    <!-- Note - FreeMarker ${..} entries must be escaped in Spring context files -->
+                    <value>\$\{node.primaryParentAssoc.QName\}</value>
                 </entry>
                 <entry>
                     <key>
@@ -150,7 +154,8 @@
                     <key>
                         <value>value</value>
                     </key>
-                    <value>${today?string("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.sss'Z'")}</value>
+                    <!-- Note - FreeMarker ${..} entries must be escaped in Spring context files -->
+                    <value>\$\{today?string("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.sss'Z'")\}</value>
                 </entry>
             </map>
         </property>
@@ -402,7 +407,8 @@
             </list>
         </property>
         <property name="queryTemplate">
-            <value>@cm\:created:${luceneDateRange(yesterday, "-P10Y")}</value>
+            <!-- Note - FreeMarker ${..} entries must be escaped in Spring context files -->
+            <value>@cm\:created:\$\{luceneDateRange(yesterday, "-P10Y")\}</value>
         </property>
         <property name="cronExpression">
             <value>0 0/1 * * * ?</value>
@@ -439,4 +445,4 @@
         </property>
     </bean>
     
-</beans>
\ No newline at end of file
+</beans>
diff --git a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/action/scheduled/SimpleTemplateActionDefinition.java b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/action/scheduled/SimpleTemplateActionDefinition.java
index 18aaa0bb9a..daa3bf8f88 100644
--- a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/action/scheduled/SimpleTemplateActionDefinition.java
+++ b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/action/scheduled/SimpleTemplateActionDefinition.java
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@ import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextAware;
 /**
  * This class defines the template used to build a single action.
  * 
+ * Because SPEL will eat ${foo} or #{foo} in the template when specified in the XML,
+ *  this will also accept \$\{foo\} or \#\{foo\} as well.
+ *  
  * @author Andy Hind
  */
 public class SimpleTemplateActionDefinition extends AbstractTemplateActionDefinition implements ApplicationContextAware
@@ -176,17 +179,30 @@ public class SimpleTemplateActionDefinition extends AbstractTemplateActionDefini
         // Go through the template definitions and set the values.
         for (String paramName : parameterTemplates.keySet())
         {
-            // Transform the template
+            // Fetch the template. Need to de-escape things put in to work
+            //  around it not being possible to disable SPEL for one bean 
             String template = parameterTemplates.get(paramName);
-            String stringValue = templateService.processTemplateString(getTemplateActionModelFactory()
-                    .getTemplateEngine(), template, getTemplateActionModelFactory().getModel(nodeRef));
+            if(template.contains("\\$\\{") || template.contains("\\#\\{"))
+            {
+               template = template.replace("\\$\\{", "${");
+               template = template.replace("\\#\\{", "#{");
+               if(template.contains("\\}"))
+               {
+                  template = template.replace("\\}", "}");
+               }
+            }
+            
+            // Transform the template
+            String stringValue = templateService.processTemplateString(
+                  getTemplateActionModelFactory().getTemplateEngine(), 
+                  template, getTemplateActionModelFactory().getModel(nodeRef));
 
             // Find the data type from the action defintion
             DataTypeDefinition dataTypeDef;
             if (actionDefinition.getParameterDefintion(paramName) != null)
             {
-                dataTypeDef = dictionaryService
-                        .getDataType(actionDefinition.getParameterDefintion(paramName).getType());
+                dataTypeDef = dictionaryService.getDataType(
+                      actionDefinition.getParameterDefintion(paramName).getType());
             }
             // Fall back to the DD using the property name of it is not defined
             // This is sometimes used for setting a property to a value.