The education secretary has repeated a disputed claim that teachers are “in the top earners” in parts of the country, ahead of pay talks with unions next week.
Speaking in December, Gillian Keegan had said that she “very much” hoped that teachers would not strike, as they were “probably in the top 10 per cent of earners in some parts of the country”.
At the time Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said Ms Keegan’s comments were “staggeringly out of touch”, but in an interview with ITV this afternoon, the education secretary made a similar claim.
Ms Keegan said today that when extra factors such as pension contributions were considered, “then you will find teachers across the country, outside of London in particular, will be in the top earners”.
Ms Keegan also explained in the interview that her own cousin was an NEU representative who had decided to strike, and that she had told her: “Make sure you tell your head because I couldn’t believe it that some teachers didn’t tell the heads.”
Asked if she would change the law to require teachers to tell their head of their intention to strike, she replied: “Well that will be something that we’ll look at because I think we were all quite surprised to find out that that was the case.”
Currently union members do not have to tell their head if they are a member of a union, or if they intend to strike.
Teacher strikes: further talks on pay next week
Union leaders today urged Ms Keegan to make a “fully funded” pay proposal when they meet for talks next week to avoid the next teacher strike action going ahead.
The NEU teaching union has said talks will take place next Wednesday between unions and the Department for Education.
Members of the teaching union are set to walk out over pay in the Northern, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber regions on Tuesday 28 February, with further regional and national strike action set to take place in March.
According to data from the Office for National Statistics, nationally, 90 per cent of people earn less than £5,132 per month, meaning you would have to earn £61,584 to be in the top 10 per cent of earners, in the UK as a whole.
Ms Keegan has previously said that the average salary of a classroom teacher is £39,000, which is far lower than this.
The employer contribution rate for the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) is 23.6 per cent. This is generally higher than jobs in the private sector, where employers must pay a minimum of 3 per cent.
