ASCL response to Education Secretary’s remit to the STRB

Commenting on the Education Secretary’s remit letter to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) over the teachers’ pay award for 2023/24, Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said:

“The Education Secretary advises the pay review body to recognise the impact pay rises will have on school budgets in its recommendation for next year’s pay award. This strongly suggests that the government has no intention of providing any additional funding to enable schools to pay the award to their staff – just as it has failed to provide this vital funding for this year’s pay award.

“When will the government understand that we cannot go on like this? Schools simply cannot afford the cost of unfunded pay awards and they will be driven further into the red unless the government provides the necessary funding. To be clear, teachers fully deserve and need a significant pay increase following years of real-terms pay erosion, but it is absolute madness to expect schools to meet these costs out of diminishing budgets and this will inevitably lead to more cuts in educational provision.”