Government accepts recommendations of independent School Teachers’ Review Body

School teachers and leaders will receive a fully funded 5.5% pay award, reflecting the vital contribution they make to children's life chances.

The decision means the recommendations of the School Teachers' Review Body (STRB) have been accepted in full.

Schools will receive almost £1.2billion in additional funding to cover their costs, fully funding the pay award for teachers and support staff in financial year 2024-25 at a national level.

The investment marks an important step on the path towards the government's pledge to recruit 6,500 new teachers.

As the Chancellor has set out, the poor position of the public finances means that a number of programmes must be cancelled across government – including the Advanced British Standard.

Today's pay award reflects the value the government places on the country's six million public servants, and the cost to the country of not accepting public sector pay awards.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson MP said:

“The Chancellor has laid out a grim picture – our public finances are in a devastating state and tough choices need to be made to help rebuild the foundations of the economy.

“But while the impact teachers have on children and young people's life chances can't be measured in pounds and pence, those working in education must be in no doubt about their value.

“Teachers lay the foundations of children's lives. An investment in them is an investment in the next generation, and this government is determined to make sure every child - whatever their background - has the opportunity to succeed.”

The Education Secretary has recognised the delay in confirming pay and funding arrangements for next year due to the timing of the general election.

The 5.5% award will apply from 1 September and is equivalent to an increase of over £2,500 for the average teacher, which would take the median salary for 2024/25 to over £49,000.

The pay award applies to maintained schools, with academies continuing to have freedom over their pay and conditions.

The government is also today announcing further steps to reduce teachers' workload, reset relations with the sector and make teaching an attractive profession again.

Alongside the pay award, the requirement for schools to use the Performance Related Pay (PRP) system – which can lead to schools and teachers going through an overly bureaucratic process to agree individual teachers' pay rises – will be removed from September.

The government will also clarify that teachers can carry out their planning time at home, improving flexible working for staff.

Today's award builds on the Education Secretary's work to reset the relationship with education workforces since taking up post, including a letter to all education workers in week one in the role, a reception with almost 200 stakeholders, and a webinar with up to 14,000 front line staff.

Notes to editors

• The almost £1.2 billion of additional funding includes:

• This means that the core schools budget, which includes the core revenue funding for schools and high needs, will total over £61.8 billionin 2024-25.
• A cumulative spending commitment of £3bn by 2028/29 will be avoided as a result of cancelling the ABS.
• Funding for retention payments for teachers and for GCSE maths and English resits, initially announced as part of the ABS, will be unaffected.
• The School Teachers' Review Body (STRB) makes recommendations on the pay, professional duties and working time of school teachers in maintained schools in England and reports to the Secretary of State for Education and the Prime Minister.
• Academies have freedom over their pay and conditions, but most usually follow the recommendations of the STRB.
• The Government will launch a 10-week consultation on its response to the STRB's recommendations with the statutory consultees. The pay award will come into effect following the conclusion of the consultation. As this will be after the 1 September, the pay award will be backdated.
• The requirement for schools to use performance related pay will be removed from September 2024. It will up to individual schools to decide if and when they choose to implement the new arrangements. Some schools might want to remove performance elated pay entirely from the new academic year, but others may wish to take more time to consider whether and how to implement this change. 
• Government will update the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document to clarify that teachers can carry out their planning time at home.
• The Department has published mainstream schools and high needs funding rates, to help schools understand how much additional funding they can expect to receive. We have also provided a calculator tool so that mainstream schools can estimate their grant funding.
• The 2024-25 National Joint Council offer, applicable to school support staff in 2024-25, is currently under negotiation.