Commenting on the Chancellor’s
speech, Dr Mary
Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education
Union,
said:
“If the Government is serious about
protecting living standards and building a strong economy, it
must reverse the real terms cuts to teacher pay. Instead, with
RPI inflation reaching 8.2% and in the midst of the worst
cost-of-living crisis in decades, the Government plans yet more
real terms pay cuts for teachers.
“The Government plans pay increases
for most school teachers of only 3% in September 2022 and 2%
in September 2023. These paltry increases are well below current
and expected inflation, so teachers face another big pay cut in
real terms following the long period of pay cuts dating back to
2010. With inflation so high, the impact of this year’s pay cut
on living standards could be even worse than last year’s teacher
pay freeze. Teachers and lecturers in post-16 settings, and other
educators including support staff and supply teachers, also face
huge cuts to the real value of their pay against
inflation.
“Enough is enough. More pay cuts
will increase the already serious teacher recruitment and
retention problems that are clearly impacting negatively on
children and young people's education. The Government’s plan to
inflict more real terms pay cuts is a damaging and dogmatic
political choice.
“The Chancellor’s refusal to increase
education funding in the face of this inflation surge signals a
return to the austerity of the 2010s. The real-terms growth rate
for the Spending Review period (2022-23 to 2024-25) was 2% a year
on previous inflation assumptions – already lower than the
previous Spending Round. The Institute for Fiscal Studies
estimated recently that at least a quarter of the real terms
increase in spending will be wiped out through inflation. The
higher inflation goes the more will be lost. The Chancellor has
missed an opportunity to protect our children’s
futures.”
