The NEU teaching union has been told to refer itself to the UK statistics watchdog over its funding claims, in a letter from the education secretary seen by Tes.
The education secretary wrote to the joint general secretaries of the NEU today to request that they “seek clarity” from the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) and “correct” statements “if necessary”.
In particular, Gillian Keegan pointed to the claim on the NEU website that the Department for Education (DfE) “failed to provide the adequate information on funding to school leaders”.
It comes after the watchdog said last week that it considered that the DfE had evidenced its claim that the pay offer had been fully funded, in line with its definition.
However, the watchdog also advised last week that the department should consider including its definition of “fully funded” in future schools’ cost technical notes and also consider including more information on high-needs funding.
But today, in a letter to the NEU, Ms Keegan said the the OSR response was “unequivocal” and “considered the department’s explanations in line with its regulatory guidance on statements about public funding”.
Ms Keegan also said that while the offer had been rejected “following criticism from unions that it was not fully funded”, polling from Teacher Tapp suggested teachers would have accepted the offer “had they believed it was fully funded”.
The survey by Teacher Tapp last month found that 41 per cent of teachers would vote to accept the pay offer if the government funded it fully (rather than expecting schools to find most of the money from existing budgets).
However, 31 per cent said they would reject and 27 per cent were unsure.
Ms Keegan said: “As a leader and public figure, I know I have a duty to act with integrity, objectivity and accountability. That is why I was keen for the UK stats authority to review my department’s presentation of the facts and supporting evidence.”
She added: “I believe all parties in this dispute should seek to uphold these standards as we seek resolution to the teacher pay dispute.”
Responding on 15 May, the joint general secretaries of the NEU Kevin Courtney and Dr Mary Bousted said that the OSR had told the DfE to include its “definition of fully funded” in documents shared with schools.
And Mr Courtney and Dr Bousted criticised the education secretary for not including this definition in the open letter, something they claimed “doesn’t aid public understanding of these issues”.
The NEU asked Ms Keegan to “aid public understanding” by clarifying what proportion of schools she believes will “receive increases in funding which are less than their increases in costs”.
