Teachers are set for a pay rise of up to 3.5 per cent from September, the government has announced.
Those on the main pay scale will get 3.5 per cent, while those on the upper ranges will get 2 per cent and leaders will receive 1.5 per cent.
The summer holidays are upon us and still teachers have no knowledge of their latest pay deal - due to be paid from September. Here’s what you need to know:
What will I get paid next term?
We don’t know and nor, it seems, does anyone else. Education secretary Damian Hinds has had the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) recommendations’ on teachers’ pay since the beginning of May, but there still hasn’t been an announcement on how much teachers will receive as a cost-of-living rise and who will foot the bill - schools or central government.
But schools have broken up for the holidays now. Isn’t it a bit late?
More than a bit. No one can recall a teacher pay announcement being so late in recent history. Headteachers have become increasingly worried by a delay that leaves them with no idea as to whether they’re going to have to revise budgets over the summer to deliver a pay increase. The lack of even a steer from the Department for Education is being perceived by unions as a mark of disrespect for the profession.
What are teachers hoping for?
Five teaching unions - the NEU, the NAHT, the Association of School and College Leaders, UCAC and Voice - jointly submitted a claim for a fully-funded “restorative pay rise” of 5 per cent for “all teachers and school leaders” in England and Wales to provide both a cost-of-living increase and a first step towards restoring “the real value of teaching salaries to 2010 levels”.
Why so much?
Because for the past seven years teachers have been subjected to a pay freeze (two successive years) then a 1 per cent pay cap. But the cost of living has risen faster and unions say that 5 per cent is necessary to try and start playing “catch up”.
What is the NASUWT asking for?
The NASUWT teaching union also wants to see a hefty rise after years of austerity - though it did not stipulate a figure in its pay submission to the STRB. It argues that teacher pay has already been cut in real terms by over 16 per cent in some parts of the pay structure.
Will teachers get this pay rise?
That’s what everyone is waiting to find out. The rumour among unions is that it could be a 3.5 per cent deal, which would be the first above-inflation rise teachers have had in years.
But would that be a fully or part-funded 3.5 per cent? Would schools be expected to stump up the entire amount from already stretched budgets? To be good news for teachers and their schools, a fully-funded, above-inflation rise is a must.
What’s the hold up?
We don’t know for sure. But the longer the wait goes on, the more people suspect that the problem is down to a fight for funding between the DfE and a “tight-fisted” Treasury. Whitehall’s focus on Brexit is also believed to be playing a part.
What happens if the DfE loses its battle for funding?
Then either teachers don’t get a pay rise or schools have to pay for it themselves. The first option is likely to further aggravate the recruitment and retention crisis. But the second will deepen the other crisis currently facing schools - funding. Unions are warning that it could mean the end of national pay, with different schools being able to afford different amounts, and are suggesting that it will force schools into the red.
So no news is bad news?
Increasingly, that is the fear. Trade unionists are already warning that a ballot for industrial action is on the cards and preparing teachers for a summer of anger.
Isn’t Parliament also about to break up for its holidays?
Yes, the House of Commons rises on Tuesday and MPs won’t return until 4 September. Unions fear that means that unless the pay deal is announced today or tomorrow, it will have to wait until the autumn term. But the DfE will not confirm whether the pay announcement must be made in Parliament.
So what does the DfE say?
Oh, that one’s easy: “More information will be available in due course”.
