Teaching unions to take action if 'landmark' pay rise for teachers is not increased amid record inflation

Last week, the Government announced ‘landmark’ rises to teachers’ salaries with pay increases of between 5-8.9 per cent from September. Under the pay deal, starting salaries for teachers outside London will reach £28,000 in the 2022/23 academic year, while teachers with more than five years’ experience will see their salary increase by 5 per cent.

Making the announcement, education secretary James Cleverly said that the Government is ‘delivery significant pay increases for all teachers despite the present economic challenges, pushing teacher starting salaries up towards the £30,000 milestone and giving experienced teachers the biggest pay rise in a generation.’  He said the move ‘will attract even more top-quality talent’ to the schools’ sector.

However, teaching unions have warned that due to record inflation of 11.7 per cent and the cost-of-living crisis, the pay rise is actually a pay cut in real-terms.

It comes amid a funding allocation of less than below inflation for schools for 2023-24.

The National Education Union (NEU) said that its members ‘cannot stand by and watch the biggest real-terms decline in pay in this century’, but if the Government ‘continues on this course into September, it will have no hesitation in recommending’ strike action.

The union is due to consult its members in the autumn.

'This isn't a 5 per cent pay rise, it is a nearly 7 per cent pay cut'

Joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said, ‘This isn't a 5 per cent pay rise, it is a nearly 7 per cent pay cut. With RPI inflation at 11.7 per cent according to the latest figures, experienced teachers would see a bigger pay cut than the one inflicted by last year's pay freeze and even the increase to starting pay is below inflation so is a real-terms pay cut.’

He went on to criticise the pay increase for beginner teachers, which he said would do nothing to solve teacher recruitment problems.

The Education Policy Institute (EPI) warned that the salary rise for teachers will not ‘reverse the decade-long decline in real terms pay.

Its director for school workforce James Zuccollo said that younger teachers’ pay has suffered to a ‘greater extent’ than more experienced teachers.

He said, ‘Over the last decade, younger teachers' pay penalty, against their peers in comparative occupations, has increased dramatically more than the average for the profession as a whole. Teachers outside London under the age of 30, for instance, earn 10 per cent less than comparative professionals their age, whilst those in their 50s earn only 3.5 per cent less.

‘Given their (the Government’s) unwillingness to fund a more costly pay settlement, it therefore makes sense for the Government to focus the largest wage increases on younger teachers. Narrowing the pay penalties teachers face, where they are most severe, will provide support for recruitment into the profession, where it is most needed. Looking ahead, however, the Government must remain focused on improving retention rates for all teachers.’

'Local government and school workers being pushed to the brink'

Meanwhile, the three unions representing council and school staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - Unison, Unite and GMB - have also criticised the £1,925 flat rate pay offer for council and school employees, which comes a month after the unions called for a pay boost of at least £2,000.

GMB national secretary Rehana Azam said, ‘Local government and schools workers kept our vital institutions running during the pandemic. Now, like everyone else, they’re being pushed to the brink by the cost-of-living crisis.

Unite acting national officer Clare Keogh added, 'Council workers have already suffered over a decade of below-inflation wage rises and this is another pay cut dressed up as a pay increase.

‘The cost-of-living crisis is hitting council workers hard, many already can’t afford to make ends meet, spiralling food costs and energy bills will more than swallow the pay offer being proposed.’

School funding

The Department for Education has also announced a £1.5bn increase to school funding for 2023-24

However, the NEU has said that for over half of schools, this represents a 0.5 per cent per pupil increase due to record inflation.

Joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said, ‘This announcement is very damaging to our children’s education as it looks like this Government is returning to the bad days of austerity and away from any sense of levelling up. 

‘The Government needs to recognise the changed circumstances since the 2021 Spending Review and put more money into our children’s futures.’