Details of the new pay offer for teachers in Scotland were released this afternoon.
Now, the EIS, Scotland’s largest teaching union, has suspended strike action and opened a ballot of its members, with a recommendation to accept the offer.
Local authorities’ body Cosla has set out the figures that make up an offer divided into three parts, covering a period of 28 months, up to the end of July 2024.
The three parts of the teacher pay offer, as worded by Cosla, are as follows:
1. “A 7 per cent increase at all SNCT (Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers) pay points with effect from 1 April 2022, with a cap at a starting salary of £80,000 or over, where a £5,600 flat rate uplift to salary will apply.”
2. “A further increase of 5 per cent at all SNCT pay points with effect from 1 April 2023, with a cap at a starting salary of £80,000 or over, where a £4,000 flat rate uplift to salary will apply.”
3. “A further increase of 2 per cent at all SNCT pay points with effect from 1 January 2024, with a cap at a starting salary of £80,000 or over, where a £1,600 flat rate uplift to salary will apply. We have also agreed that, thereafter, the pay year will be aligned with the school year starting from August 2024.”
However, there is another crucial point: “For those already earning over £80,000 or above, the 28-month offer has a monetary value of £11,200.” Anyone on points 14-19 on the depute head/headteacher pay scale earns over £80,000.
EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said: “The view of our negotiators is that this deal represents the best that can be achieved in the current political and financial climate without a much more prolonged campaign of industrial action.
“It is through the determination and collective action of teachers and associated professionals across Scotland, led by EIS members, that we have improved this pay offer from an initial 2 per cent for the current year to 7 per cent for the current financial year, with additional increases of 5 per cent and then 2 per cent within the following financial year. This will result in the majority of teachers seeing a 12.3 per cent increase on their current rate of pay by April of this year and by 14 per cent by January 2024.”
Ms Bradley added: “This has been a long dispute which has been challenging for all concerned. Teachers have taken strike action as a last resort, and that strike action has delivered an improved pay offer that the EIS can credibly put to its members with a recommendation to accept.
“It is now for our members to decide whether to accept this offer, and it is our recommendation that they should do so.”
In a message to its members, the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association said that its national executive had met today to consider the next steps of the SSTA pay campaign. The SSTA had withdrawn from national strike action this week, but today it identified dates for “further industrial action in the event of the employers failing to produce an improved pay offer”.
Unions consider new teacher pay offer
The statement added: “However, just after 3pm today an improved pay offer was received from Cosla and…the latest pay offer will be put to members. The SSTA will conduct a formal online ballot undertaken by an independent scrutineer next week, with further details for the ballot to be issued early next week.”
School leaders’ bodies have not commented the £80,000 cap that would affect some of their members. International data shows that Scottish headteachers are paid less than their counterparts in many other countries; the headteacher and depute head pay scale in Scotland extends from £52,350 to £99,609.
Primary school leaders’ body AHDS, which on 22 February withdrew from strike action after members voted in favour of the previous pay offer, tweeted this evening: “We wrote to all members this afternoon to share the new pay offer from Cosla and our intention to vote in favour of acceptance based on the member response to our earlier ballot.”
The teacher pay dispute in Scotland has been ongoing for over a year. In November, Scotland saw the first national teacher strike over pay since 1984-85.
Education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said this afternoon: “We have looked for compromise and we have arrived at a deal that is fair, affordable and sustainable for everyone involved. The Scottish government is supporting this deal with total funding of over £320 million across this year and next.
“This reflects our commitment to reach a fair agreement and avoid further disruption to children and young people’s education.
“I hope that teaching unions will now give their members the opportunity to consider this new offer and to suspend the planned industrial action next week. This would minimise any further disruption to learning, particularly in the run-up to the SQA exam diet.”
The EIS has recently been sharing data showing a 24 per cent real-terms decline in teacher pay since 2008.
Ms Somerville said that the “historic offer, if accepted by unions, would see teacher pay increase by 33 per cent from January 2018 to January 2024”; she also said most teachers’ salaries would rise by £5,200 in April and that most classroom teachers at the top of their pay scale would ultimately see a rise of £6,100, while the starting salary after probation would go to £38,650 by January 2024.
Cosla has been highlighting ”a 14.6 per cent cumulative increase in salary at the point when the third increase [in the new offer] is applied”.
After a special meeting of Scotland’s council leaders today, Cosla’s resources spokesperson, Katie Hagmann, said: “We have reached a position today whereby we sincerely hope our trade union partners can take this revised offer to their membership for a vote.
“Scotland’s council leaders fully value all of their workforce and recognise the invaluable contribution teachers make to the lives of our children and young people.”
Ms Hagmann added: “Council leaders across Scotland are having to take really challenging budget decisions, so the funding assurances received from the Scottish government yesterday have now made it possible to make this revised offer to the teaching trade unions today.”
