Responding to the announcement of the
teacher pay award for 2024/25, Pepe Di'Iasio, General
Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said:
“We are very pleased that the independent pay review body has
recognised that teacher pay must be significantly improved to
support recruitment and retention, and that the government has
fully accepted their recommendation. This will go some way to
addressing the erosion of pay that has taken place over the last
decade, and is in stark contrast to the below inflation awards
that teachers have had to become accustomed to in recent years.
We also welcome confirmation that schools will no longer be
obligated to use performance-related pay, and the increased
flexibility around non-contact time.
“The acknowledgement that schools require additional funding in
order to afford this much-needed pay award and overall costs is
reassuring and suggests the government understands the financial
pressure that schools are under. We will be closely examining the
detail to ensure the award will genuinely be affordable for all
schools.
“We sincerely hope that the recent trend of teacher pay awards
being resolved later and later in the academic year will now end.
While we accept the extenuating circumstances of this year's
general election and subsequent change of government, going
forward we see no reason why these decisions cannot be made
earlier to give school leaders the time they need to plan their
budgets for the following year.”
