The UK jobs market is a funny place right now.

A shortage of workers is pushing starting salaries up in many private sector industries such as retail, hospitality, logistics and food processing, as firms compete for staff.

This means workers now have a lot more choice about where they want to work based on the salaries available - quite a change after years of fairly unexceptional economic growth in the labour market.

Can schools match rapidly rising wages?

The extent of this boost to salaries was made clear in a recent report from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), which said that - based on a survey of 400 UK recruitment and employment consultancies - starters’ salaries for both permanent and temporary roles had risen at the highest rates for 24 years. 

The impact of this is only just starting to be seen across the jobs market, but one clear issue that is emerging is how public sector organisations can hope to compete with this sort of wage increase in the battle for workers, as Kate Shoesmith, deputy CEO of the REC, explains.

“We are seeing people make job decisions based on the salary available. A prime example in the public sector is the care sector,” she says.

“We pay carers at minimum wage and we have seen those individuals choosing between being in the care sector or a job that pays more in hospitality or retail. This means the care sector is now competing against different sectors for workers rather than just other [care sector] employers.”

While the care sector is on the frontline of this issue, the problem could well spill over into other public sector organisations - including schools, as Jack Worth, lead economist at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), explains.

“Schools are just as much a part of the labour market as any other sector and can be affected by these issues. Of course, the sector can have high job security and we saw that in the pandemic, but then it can be quite inflexible when it come to these big changes in the market,” he says.

Given this situation, there is the potential that recruitment of staff in schools could become harder - and even retention, too - as wages rise in other sectors at a pace that schools cannot match.

Salaries tempting staff  

For classroom teachers, this issue is perhaps not so pressing because the decision to stop being a teacher is not usually made primarily on the lure of more money to work in very different sector, not least because of the time and training invested to become a teacher.

However, where this wage issue could have more of an impact is around lower-paid and less highly trained roles, such as teaching assistants, with Shoesmith saying that, just like care homes, the inability of schools to compete on wages could become a real problem.

“I imagine it will be really difficult for schools or any education provider [to compete on pay] because that system of pay and budget is essentially set for them,” she adds.

Mark Chatley, trust leader at Coppice Primary Partnership in Kent, is one leader who is already picking up on this issue.

“Teaching assistants are incredibly vital but the pay is low and there isn’t much schools can do about it, as it tends to be benchmarked and so all schools pay similar amounts,” says Chatley.

“It would be good to see the wage for TAs and other such roles rise, but, in order to do this, schools would need more funding as budgets are too stretched already.”

Right now this issue does not appear to be impacting on recruitment in schools, but Chatley’s bigger concern is around retention of current staff, especially if they see an opportunity to boost their hours and their pay.

“I do think that the retention is tricky as a result [of rising wages],” he says. “Many TAs seem to begin their roles, in part, to fit alongside their children. Once their children then reach an age where they don’t need to match their hours and times, they tend to seek employment that is more ‘full-time’.”

If they do start looking, they may find a jobs market ready to welcome them with open arms - and schools may struggle to compete.

The rising cost of living

What’s more, this rise in wages is happening in line with another big economic trend: rising prices - from fuel and food to new social care taxes and who knows what else to come in the spending review.

Given this situation, many individuals may well be looking ahead with the sinking feeling that they’re going to be worse off in the near future.

Rachel Ridgill, operations and HR director at the David Ross Education Trust, says she could envision many other key staff in schools looking elsewhere if salaries in schools and other sectors are markedly different.

“Competing against the possibility of rising wages in other sectors is a real risk - not just in terms of teaching assistants, but wider support roles, too: IT, admin, HR and finance,” she says.

“The simple fact is that if we have a hike in wages, even set against great pensions, people start looking at the reality of paying bills day to day.”

This could be something of a perfect storm then - higher wages outside education and pressing demand for more money driving TAs and, indeed, other workers to seek work elsewhere.

However, at this point we have to add a third factor into the mix - the fact that those working in education are rarely motivated solely by the pay packet, as Rob Webster, director of the Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants (MITA) project and a researcher at UCL Institute of Education, notes.

“There is a standing view among TAs that they don’t do it for the money or that it will fund luxurious holidays - they do it for the love of the job,” he says.

“TA wages have always been historically low and the common refrain is that they could earn more money working on tills in supermarkets - but that doesn’t happen.”

A mass exodus? 

As a result, he says he does not think schools should be too concerned that there will be a mass exodus of TAs lured by higher salaries - not least because such fears have been expressed in the past but the problem has not come to pass.

“During the financial crash of 2008 and then the austerity that followed, all the smart money was on TAs going to work elsewhere. But the workforce data suggested that never happened,” says Webster.

Indeed, he cites government data that shows the number of TAs in all state-funded schools actually rose between 2010 and 2016, only finally dropping in 2017 - before rising again.

He says a big reason for this is because working as a TA when you have your own children usually negates the need to fund childcare - something that a job in retail, hospitality or logistics could require, and therefore actually leave someone worse off.

“Many TAs may look elsewhere and think about sticking or twisting but decide to stick because they get the flexibility they need working in school,” he adds.

How to keep staff happy

Despite this, Webster admits that given the huge hole that the loss of experienced TAs would leave, it would not be a bad idea for leaders to “throw their arms around TAs” and ensure they are recognised for the work they do in the current climate.

He adds that schools could also look to “professionalise” the role if relevant for their TAs and offer extra training and development opportunities, too.

Ridgill agrees that focusing on these sorts of issues within a school setting is crucial if the labour market is becoming more competitive, in order to make staff think twice about leaving for pastures new.

“Academy trusts and schools need to think hard about what they are able to offer by way of wider employer benefits so that we can remain competitive,” she says.

“This means taking a long hard look at career progression, removing the ‘niggles’ - making sure people have the right equipment, environment and facilities, and that there is a real and tangible sense of support staff feeling valued and recognised.”

Shoesmith agrees that this is key: “[Schools] need to ask, ‘What do we look like as an employer? What benefits in kind do we offer? What are we doing to support people with coaching and development, with work-life balance, with mental health support?’”.

She adds that these sort of issues are now something that staff are far more likely to look into as part of an organisation’s culture and working ideals.

“[Staff are asking] ‘Does the organisation reflect who I am? Is this a place where I can be fulfilled? Does it share the values and behaviours that I would expect?’” she says, adding: “We started to hear this before the pandemic but it has been much more focused now.”

Of course, offering a holistic employment package that goes beyond salary and provides a raft of compelling reasons to work for, or stay in employment with, an organisation is something schools have always looked to do.

However, with the jobs market in a state of flux right now, it is clear that taking time to re-evaluate this - for both existing staff and potential new hires - could be an important step to remain competitive in the labour market in the weeks, months and even years ahead.