Unions representing school support staff have accepted a pay offer of an extra £1,925 this year, equating to a 10.5 per cent increase for the lowest-paid workers.
The initial offer was submitted back in July, when unions said it would be “considered”.
The pay offer will be backdated to 1 April 2022 and averages out to around 7 per cent across the pay scales. The flat rise of £1,925 will mean those at the bottom of the pay scale receive a 10.5 per cent increase, while those at the top get just over 4 per cent.
And the offer also includes a 4 per cent increase to allowances, backdated to 1 April 2022, with a one-day increase to the annual leave of all employees coming into effect on the same day.
Members of Unison, GMB and Unite, which make up the trade union side of the national joint council that negotiates pay for the majority of local government workers - including school support staff - were consulted on the pay offer throughout summer and autumn.
Support staff pay rise: school fears over funding it
Unison national secretary for local government Mike Short said the unions would be seeking to submit a pay claim for 2023 “as soon as practically possible, so the employers have no excuse for delaying making an offer next year”.
“Our immediate priority now is to get the money into the pay packets of workers as soon as possible, to help deal with the rapidly rising cost of living and move into the next pay round,” he added.
While the pay rise will be welcomed by many school support staff, school leaders have warned that covering the rise could “break” their budgets, as they have not been allocated extra cash to fund it.
Teachers are currently at loggerheads with the government over pay.
Experienced teachers were offered a pay rise of 5 per cent this summer, but unions have been campaigning for bigger increases in line with inflation.
And England’s biggest teaching union, the NEU, has said strikes could happen from 30 January next year as its leaders warned that teachers’ “strength of feeling” over pay should not be underestimated.
School leader members of the NAHT were set to be balloted on industrial action last month after 84 per cent said they would support a vote if issues to do with teacher pay and lack of school funding to pay for it were not addressed by the government.
