“Responding to the Secretary of State's consultation on the STRB
report, ASCL, NAHT, NEU and Community have set out their united
view on the need for the Government to provide the additional
investment needed to fully fund September's 4% teacher and school
leader pay increase.
Teachers and school leaders have seen huge real terms cuts to
their pay since 2010. Their pay cuts have been much greater
than those of other professions and as confirmed by the STRB this
has hit the competitiveness of teacher and school leader pay
hard. Excessive workload and poor wellbeing are driving
teachers and leaders out of the profession, worsening the
recruitment and retention crisis in education. The unions
are also calling for a fair national pay structure and the
removal of performance-related pay.
Investing in the improvements needed to teacher and school leader
pay and conditions is vital to tackling the recruitment and
retention crisis. In the interests not only of teachers and
school leaders but of parents, pupils and the wider economy, we
need a major pay correction to reverse the real terms pay cuts
and repair the competitiveness of pay. Investment is also
needed to address excessive workload, enhance work/life balance,
and increase flexible working opportunities.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National
Education Union, said:
“The Government must respond to the clear evidence and the united
voice of the profession. To protect our education service
and tackle the recruitment and retention crisis, the Government
must put in the investment needed to properly value teachers and
school leaders.”
Pepe Di'Iasio, General Secretary of the Association of
School and College Leaders, said: “We urge the
government to provide the funding in full that is needed to cover
the cost of the 2025-26 pay award, as the partial funding
provided leaves many schools having to make cuts to bridge this
shortfall. This means reductions in staffing, which has a
knock-on effect on the workloads of remaining staff, which in
turn affects retention. It is a vicious cycle which we must
break. This can only be done by ensuring that pay awards are both
sufficient and fully funded.”
Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders' union
NAHT, said: “The government's welcome acceptance of the
STRB's recommended pay uplift for school leaders and teachers is
another small step forward on the path to fairer pay. However,
the ever-tightening financial pressures on schools mean that
finding the money for this is becoming more difficult.
“Any so-called easy savings have long since been achieved after
years of under-investment under previous governments, so the
government must avoid creating a false trade-off between
professionals' pay and reductions in support for pupils,
curriculum resources and activities.
“Ensuring schools have the dedicated teachers and leaders they
need requires sustained government investment to properly fund
further above-inflation pay rises - as well as action to tackle
intolerable levels of workload, support flexible working, and
implement more far-reaching reform of damaging high-stakes Osted
inspections.”
Community's Director of Operations Helen Osgood
said:
"The government has shown that it is on the side of teachers by
supporting the STRB's recommendation of a 4% pay increase from
this September. Ministers now need to back this up by ensuring
that appropriate funding is provided to support the increase.
This is the only way we can ensure that teacher pay keeps pace
against inflation, and that the profession remains competitive
within the labour market."
