The government is set to miss its first deadline in negotiations over this year’s teacher pay deal despite pledging to ensure that talks stick to schedule following strikes last year, Tes can reveal.
Education unions were informed by the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) this month that the government would not submit its written evidence to the pay review body by the 21 February deadline, Tes has learned.
The news comes soon after teaching unions the NEU and NASUWT announced their intentions to once again ballot members about industrial action over teacher pay.
The NEU hit out at the education secretary in December over “delays” in starting the teacher pay process for next year.
Gillian Keegan sent her customary letter to the STRB - asking for recommendations on teacher pay and conditions for next year, which kicks off the pay deal process - in late December, more than a month later than the previous year.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said the delayed start of the process went against Ms Keegan’s promise “to complete the review body process earlier this year to better align it with schools’ budget cycle”.
Delay shows ‘utter disregard’ for schools
NEU, the largest teaching union, along with school leaders’ unions the NAHT and the Association of School and College Leaders, alongside Community, have sent a joint letter to the STRB to voice their frustration over the delay.
In the letter, sent to the chair of the STRB Dr Mike Aldred, and seen by Tes, it is claimed that the unions were informed by the Office of Manpower Economics on 9 February that the government’s written evidence to the pay review body would not be submitted to meet the 21 February deadline.
In a joint statement published this afternoon, and seen by Tes, the unions said that Ms Keegan’s pledge to “do everything possible to deliver a timely pay settlement this year” had “fallen at its first two hurdles”.
“First an extremely late remit letter, sent to the STRB just days before Christmas, and now another delay,” the statement said.
It added: “We have written to the STRB to express our disquiet in the strongest possible terms. At best, it shows a complete and utter disregard for the dedicated professionals working in our schools who have faced a decade of real-terms pay cuts.”
In the letter, the unions have called on the STRB to revise its deadline for supplementary evidence for all consultees, given that the “government has chosen to ignore” the existing schedule.
They added that if this didn’t happen it “may lead teachers and school leaders to question the fairness of the process” as it could lead to unions being “disadvantaged by their evidence being shared before government has published its own” and could “break well-established practice”.
Last year, the government also missed the deadline for submitting evidence to the STRB at the end of January.
Following months of strikes in 2023, the government accepted the STRB recommendation of a 6.5 per cent pay rise.
Unions have warned that concerns about teacher pay are contributing to a spiralling recruitment and retention crisis.
The Department for Education has been approached for comment.
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