Minister for Education and Welsh Language (): I can announce today there
will be an uplift of pay for our highly skilled and hardworking
teachers in Wales.
On 21 July, subject to consultation with key stakeholders, I
agreed in principle to accept all of the Independent Welsh Pay
Review Body’s recommendations for 2022/23 including an uplift of
5% to all statutory salary points on all pay scales and for all
allowances from September 2022. I can confirm today that we
will be accepting the Review Body’s recommendations.
The new starting salary for teachers will therefore be £28,866
and the salaries of more experienced classroom teachers will
increase by £2,117 to £44,450. Additionally, all allowances will
also be uprated by 5%.
I accept that some may be disappointed that a higher award could
not be provided and recognise the legitimate right of all workers
to seek a fair and decent pay rise during this challenging time
of inflation and cost of living rises.
However, as additional funding has not been made available by the
UK Government, we are not in a position to further address these
issues over and above what has previously been considered. The
Welsh Government’s budget will be worth £4bn less over the three
years of the current settlement – £1.5bn lower next year. This is
before the much touted further budgetary cuts the UK Government
claims it will make imminently. Within this context, it is simply
unaffordable, and would be irresponsible, to propose higher pay
rises. We repeat our calls for the UK Government to finally do
the right thing and act urgently to restore Wales’s budget so
that we can support our public services.
Members will recognise that there is a huge amount of ongoing
financial uncertainty.
In relation to future pay awards from September 2023, no
compelling evidence was provided to alter my earlier proposal for
the IWPRB recommendations to be kept under review and be used as
a planning assumption, subject to such a review.
I also welcomed the IWPRBs recommendations on improvements to
some key terms and conditions of teachers, notably in relation to
remuneration of part-time teachers for TLR allowances; and the
need to review the remuneration of ALNCos. I thank both employers
and teacher unions for working alongside us on these matters to
further improve terms and conditions for teachers in Wales. In
particular, I welcome the agreed revisions to the required
methodology for calculating TLR allowances for part time teachers
which will improve the transparency and fairness for those part
time teachers carrying out these roles from now on.
Consequently, I will today make the School Teachers’ Pay and
Conditions (Wales) Order 2022 which gives effect to the School
Teachers’ Pay and Conditions (Wales) Document 2022.
The pay award will be backdated to 1 September 2022. Timing of
the implementation of the award will be a matter for employers.
Initial discussions with local authorities have been positive,
with the aim to arrange for back pay to be passed on as soon as
possible, hopefully before the end of December.
Moving forward, I welcome the opportunity to continue to work
together with stakeholders on a comprehensive review of the
structure of teachers’ and leaders’ pay and conditions. This will
provide us with further opportunities to improve and enhance the
system and, where we can, make it fairer and more transparent for
all teachers. Such partnership working will also help to promote
teaching as a profession of choice for graduates and career
changers.
