The education secretary has asked the pay review body to make teacher pay recommendations for the next three years in an attempt to give schools more certainty over their budgets.

Bridget Phillipson has asked the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) to make formal recommendations for teacher pay rises for 2026-27 and 2027-28 by February 2026.

Writing to STRB chair Dr Mike Aldred today, Ms Phillipson also asked the body to make an indicative recommendation of the teacher pay rise for 2028-29 by February 2026, which can be confirmed or reconsidered at a later date.

“I know how important budget certainty is when making strategic decisions - especially in the context of the wider ask on the public sector to maximise value from every pound spent - and I want to help schools plan to spend their money as effectively as possible to provide every child with the high-quality education they deserve,” she wrote.

“I would, therefore, ask you to look further ahead with your pay recommendations.”

Future teacher pay rises

Ms Phillipson said the process of setting the teacher pay award has been launched two months before it was begun last year.

She also asked the STRB to give its views by April 2026 on the existing salary safeguarding period, and maintained schools not being able to give non-consolidated payments - such as bonuses - to their staff.

Ms Phillipson said she wants the STRB’s view on whether maintained schools should be able to offer such payments to help support recruitment and retention, as academies do.

She added that the Department for Education understands that the current salary safeguarding period of three years can “be a barrier to schools making workforce changes”.

Phillipson seeks view on directed time

In addition, the education secretary has asked the STRB to offer views on current working-hours arrangements for teachers in the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD), and arrangements for leaders, by April 2026.

In the STPCD directed time refers to the maximum number of hours a full-time teacher is contractually expected to work, capped at 1,265 hours. 

Ms Phillipson has asked for the STRB’s views on this. In her letter she said: “I know that workload is a commonly cited reason for teachers leaving the profession and our evidence tells us that teachers and leaders often work long hours.

“I appreciate that directed time is also an unusual contractual provision, potentially creating a constraint on schools’ deployment of teachers, other than what is best for pupils and staff.

“However, I also recognise that a change to the current system of directed and undirected time could bring substantial complexities and unintended consequences to the system, and any such change would need careful consideration.”

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) welcomed the earlier start to the next pay round and the plans for a multi-year pay award.

“These steps will allow schools and trusts to plan their budgets with a greater degree of certainty than has previously been the case,” said Julie McCulloch, director of strategy and policy at the ASCL.

“Indeed, the pay cycle was so late under the last government that budget setting became an exercise in guesswork, and we are pleased that the new administration has taken steps to better support this process.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, welcomed the government looking at a two-year remit for teacher and school leader pay.

“A longer-term settlement would improve pay transparency for professionals as well as providing more clarity and stability to school leaders in setting budgets,” he said.

“However, as always, the precise figures will be key when it comes to the sector’s response. A sufficient investment in pay as well as a long-term one is needed.”

Responding to the letter, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said that it “does not adequately address the urgent need for a fully funded pay correction and significant improvements to workload.”

The DfE accepted the STRB’s recommendation of a 4 per cent teacher pay rise for 2025-26, which was above the 2.8 per cent that the government had recommended.

This came with £615 million to partially fund the pay award, though schools have warned they are still under financial pressure to cover it. Ms Phillipson has asked the STRB to consider cost pressures for schools in its recommendations.

The request for the STRB to consider whether maintained schools should be able to offer bonuses comes after there was an initial backlash to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill’s provision on pay, which many in the sector said seemed to curb academies’ freedom to pay above national rates.

Ministers then tabled an amendment to clarify that there would be no ceiling on teacher pay - the bill would only bring academies under the same legislation on a minimum for pay.

A Tes investigation last year found that 12 trusts - out of 625 that responded - exceeded the national pay scale, while a further 21 differentiated on smaller points of the pay deal or provided staff with additional benefits.

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