The late recommendations from the teachers’ pay review body are “insufficient” to address the “crisis” in the teaching profession, unions have warned today.
Five education unions have published a joint submission to the consultation on the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) report on teacher pay and the government’s proposals for implementation of the recommendations.
The NAHT school leaders’ union, the NEU teaching union, Community, NASUWT and the Association of School and College Leaders also said the publishing of the recommendations so late on in the year was “totally unacceptable, and action must be taken to ensure that this practice does not continue”.
Writing to new education secretary Kit Malthouse, the unions said: ”The STRB’s recommendations on teacher and school leader pay from 1 September 2022 are insufficient to address the crisis within the teaching profession.
“Moreover, the government’s proposed response to those recommendations is completely unacceptable and will result in further damage to the profession.”
The statement also highlighted that while the STRB “rightly identifies serious problems”, it “did not recommend the significant improvements in pay and conditions that are needed to effectively address those problems”.
The recommendations by the teachers’ pay review body were published in July, suggesting experienced teachers should receive a 5 per cent pay rise from September 2022, which the Department for Education accepted.
The DfE had originally proposed a 3 per cent pay rise in March.
However, at the time, a sector leader representing school trusts warned that ministers deciding to increase teacher pay without providing extra funding to meet it will leave schools and academy trusts unable to set a balanced budget.
STRB does not ‘challenge’ the ‘inadequate funding envelope’
The joint union statement today says: “By not challenging the inadequate funding envelope, the STRB is effectively supporting the government by undermining the objective evidence-based approach, which is essential to any credible assessment of teacher pay and conditions.”
And the unions said that while the STRB exceeded the proposed pay increases put forward by the government, the body had still “not gone far enough to remind the government of the need to protect teachers and school leader pay, or to repair the damage already caused by years of pay cuts against inflation since 2010”.
Case to ‘restore the real value of pay is incontestable’
The letter also said that the “case” for an “uplift to restore the real value of pay is incontestable”.
It argues that “whatever the precise outturn for inflation”, “real-terms pay cuts for teachers and school leaders have become an established feature of government policy”.
Industrial action looms
Earlier this month, ASCL said it had asked members across the country if they would support a strike ballot, for the first time since it was established in its current form in 2006.
The largest teaching union, the NEU, has already set a date for a preliminary ballot for strike action later this month, while NASUWT said it was “committed” to balloting its members on industrial action in the autumn term if an improved pay deal is not forthcoming.
