Teachers will be worse off in a year as a direct result of this Government's policies - Rayner

Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, commenting on the announcement that teachers’ pay will remain capped at 1 per cent, said:

"While it is right that the Secretary of State accepts the recommendations of the pay review body, they were constrained by the arbitrary 1 per cent pay cap and the simple fact is that this means teachers are still facing a real terms pay cut.

"With pay rises for the vast majority of teachers capped below inflation, they will be worse off in a year as a direct result of this Government's policies.

"The Government must clarify if there will be new funding for schools to pay for increasing wages, or if it will be squeezed from school budgets already facing their steepest budget cuts for a generation. There are now more questions than answers about their education policy, and schools urgently need some certainty so they can plan.

"It is also deeply concerning that the Secretary of State had nothing to say about the hard working teaching assistants and support staff who keep schools running."