Headteachers’ leaders have said they are “gravely concerned” about how the government intends to fund salary increases for teachers, after the chancellor announced that he will scrap the public sector pay freeze in this week’s Budget.

Rishi Sunak has said he will lift the year-long pay freeze in his fiscal statement on Wednesday, paving the way for a possible wage increase next year for public sector workers such as teachers, nurses, police and armed forces personnel.

Last November, the chancellor “paused” public sector pay increases for 2021-22, with the exception of the NHS and those earning less than £24,000, after heavy borrowing during the Covid crisis.

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But Mr Sunak said on Monday that, with the economy bouncing back following the lifting of Covid restrictions, it was “right” that frontline workers would “see their wages rise”.

Now the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) has said it is “gravely concerned” about where the government will source the cash “to afford the cost of future pay awards”.

Where will the money come from to fund teacher pay rises?

General secretary Geoff Barton said it was “essential” that schools and colleges were not asked to “foot the bill”.

“We welcome the news that Rishi Sunak intends to announce the lifting of the pay freeze on teachers and other public sector workers,” he said.

“The pay freeze is a policy which should never have been imposed in the first place. It is extremely damaging to morale at a time when education staff have moved mountains to teach and support children during the constant disruption of the pandemic, as well as managing a range of public health duties.

“However, we are gravely concerned about where the money will come from to afford the cost of future pay awards. School and college budgets are under huge pressure and cannot absorb additional costs. The reality is that many schools and colleges would have to make savings elsewhere or run deficit budgets, or both, if faced with unfunded extra costs.

“It is therefore essential that pay awards are fully funded by the government and that it does not expect schools and colleges to foot the bill.”

He added: “Government policy over the past decade on teacher pay has been very confused. The real value of salaries has fallen, which has damaged recruitment and retention, thereby causing teacher shortages. At the same time budgets have been squeezed making even small pay awards unaffordable.

“The government must take a more sustainable approach by making teacher pay more competitive and committing to providing the funding for pay awards.”

In a statement announcing his decision to scrap the public sector pay freeze, Mr Sunak said: “The economic impact and uncertainty of the virus meant we had to take the difficult decision to pause public sector pay.

“Along with our Plan for Jobs, this action helped us protect livelihoods at the height of the pandemic.

“And now, with the economy firmly back on track, it’s right that nurses, teachers and all the other public sector workers who played their part during the pandemic see their wages rise.”

Teachers ‘deserve more’

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said the chancellor’s announcement was “big on promises but short on detail”.

“The fear remains that this will have to be funded from existing budgets,” he said.

“Exhausted and undervalued teachers deserve far better than to be paid with petty cash, or worse, at the expense of other valuable services.”

The Unison union general secretary, Christina McAnea, said the pay freeze would continue “in all but name” unless Whitehall departments were given extra money by Mr Sunak to fund the wage increases.

Pay for most frontline workforces, including nurses, police officers, prison officers and teachers, is set through independent pay review bodies that make recommendations to ministers.

Officials said the government would be requesting “full recommendations” from the respective sector pay bodies, with awards to be announced next year.

But Mr Courtney said the last round of recommendations from the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) had been “hindered” when the chancellor “put out of bounds any consideration by the STRB of a pay increase, regardless of the evidence in favour of one”.

He said both the NEU and NASUWT teaching unions had today written to the education secretary calling for the next report from the STRB to be “truly independent”.