Responding to the news that Chancellor will announce in Wednesday’s
Budget and Spending Review an end to the one-year pay freeze on
the majority of public sector workers, Geoff Barton, General
Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said:
“We welcome the news that intends to announce the
lifting of the pay freeze on teachers and other public sector
workers. The pay freeze is a policy which should never have been
imposed in the first place. It is extremely damaging to morale at
a time when education staff have moved mountains to teach and
support children during the constant disruption of the pandemic
as well as managing a range of public health duties.
“However, we are gravely concerned about where the money will
come from to afford the cost of future pay awards. School and
college budgets are under huge pressure and cannot absorb
additional costs. The reality is that many schools and colleges
would have to make savings elsewhere or run deficit budgets, or
both, if faced with unfunded extra costs. It is therefore
essential that pay awards are fully funded by the government and
that it does not expect schools and colleges to foot the bill.
“Government policy over the past decade on teacher pay has been
very confused. The real value of salaries has fallen which has
damaged recruitment and retention thereby causing teacher
shortages. At the same time budgets have been squeezed making
even small pay awards unaffordable. The government must take a
more sustainable approach by making teacher pay more competitive
and committing to providing the funding for pay awards.”
