Headteachers’ leaders have written to Gillian Keegan this evening to reiterate that they expect a 15 per cent rise for teachers and leaders for the next academic year after rejecting the government’s pay offer earlier this month.
The NAHT school leaders’ union has told the education secretary it will seek a fully funded 15 per cent pay rise for 2023 and a fully funded pay award at the rate of inflation in September 2022 plus 5 per cent for the 2022 award.
Tes understands that this will be the starting point for any new negotiations that the NAHT enters into with the government.
And if the NAHT decides to re-ballot members to strike over pay, it will be to demand these increases.
These demands are in line with the union’s evidence to the School Teacher Review Body from earlier this year.
It comes after members of the NAHT voted to reject the government pay offer earlier this month alongside the NEU teaching union, the Association of School and College Leaders and the NASUWT teaching union.
The NAHT wrote to the education secretary this evening, confirming that the union remains in dispute with the Department for Education.
The union also stated to Ms Keegan that “for the avoidance of doubt, fully funded means without recourse to their own resources” in a letter seen by Tes.
“It is our view that there do not exist sufficient margins within existing school budgets to fund the pay awards sought by NAHT on behalf of its members, and accordingly, this needs to be matched by a commitment by the government to fully fund the entirety of the pay awards sought for 2022 and 2023,” the letter states.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, told Tes: “We’ve written to the department today, confirming that we remain in dispute, setting out our ambitions, which reflect our evidence to the review body.”
The NAHT’s last strike ballot, on the government’s 2022-23 pay offer, failed to meet the legal turnout threshold and the union has previously said that it is “committed to balloting again” on industrial action.
Last month, the DfE made all four teaching unions the offer of a £1,000 non-consolidated payment for 2022-23 and an average 4.5 per cent rise for 2023-24.
But leaders voiced concerns about the affordability of the government offer after it was revealed that just 0.5 per cent of the overall 4.5 per cent pay award for next year, plus the £1,000 one-off payment for this year, would have come through new funding.
The NEU, ASCL and NASUWT are all set to ballot members over strike action later this term.
The DfE has been approached for a comment.
