Following the meeting of NAHT’s National Executive Committee
yesterday evening, the union has today written to all members
setting out the offer that all the education unions received from
the government.
NAHT will be asking its members whether to accept or reject the
offer. It will also ask if they would be prepared to vote in
favour of industrial action if the offer is rejected.
Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary, said: “Having consulted
with our national executive committee members, we do not believe
that this offer addresses the pay erosion the teaching profession
has seen for more than a decade. Nor does it address the crushing
weight of unreasonable accountability or workload. As such, the
offer fails to address the recruitment and retention crisis that
is damaging the quality of the education for children and young
people.”
Further more, NAHT’s national executive committee does not
believe that sufficient funding is being made available to meet
even this inadequate offer. The government is proposing to fund
the non-consolidated £1,000 payment for 2022/23, but only 0.5% of
the overall 4.5% pay award for 2023/24, leaving schools to find
the remaining 4% from existing budgets.
Mr Whiteman continued: “Creating a situation where school leaders
must make cuts to afford a pay deal that the government says is
designed to make teaching a more attractive profession would be
perverse. We will be asking members to confirm or correct our
early analysis that this pay offer cannot be afforded from
existing school budgets.
“This offer takes us to a crossroads. NAHT is putting this offer
to its members to consider because despite the obvious crisis in
education, as well as all the campaigning on this issue, the
offer is apparently the limit of the government’s ambition. It is
the best that the government is prepared to make. If members
reject the offer, it is clear that industrial action by NAHT
members will be necessary.”
