The Department for Education will award teachers a 6.5 per cent pay rise from September 2023. 

This is more than the DfE had originally proposed in February (3.5 per cent) but for the second year is less than the “fully funded, inflation-plus pay increase” demanded by teaching unions.

The decision is in line with the recommendations from the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB).

• Prime minister: Sunak warned 6.5% pay rise for teachers is ‘bare minimum’
• Teacher strikes: NEU challenged over ‘devastating’ dates clash
• Pay talks: Unions urge new pay talks after 6.5% leak
• Background: DfE recommends 3% pay rise for experienced teachers

Just 3 per cent will be met with additional funding from government, while schools will be expected to meet the rest of the figure (3.5 per cent) through existing budgets. 

Union leaders said separately this afternoon that they have had “reassurances” from government that the department will not fund the 3 per cent from “frontline” budgets, including special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and school capital funding.

It is expected that unions will continue to ballot members over strike action while running simultaneous short electronic votes for their members on the pay offer.

Unions to recommend deal to members

All four education unions currently in dispute with the government over pay - the Association of School and College Leaders, the NAHT, the NASUWT and the NEU - have said they will recommend that members accept the pay award. 

In a joint statement on teachers’ pay, prime minister Rishi Sunak, education secretary Gillian Keegan, the general secretaries of the four main education unions - the NEU’s Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, ASCL’s Geoff Barton, the NAHT’s Paul Whiteman and the NASUWT’s Patrick Roach - and NEU general secretary-elect Daniel Kebede said:

“This is the largest-ever recommendation from the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB). A 6.5 per cent increase for teachers and school leaders recognises the vital role that teachers play in our country and ensures that teaching will continue to be an attractive profession.

“The government has accepted the STRB’s recommendation and has agreed to bring forward wider reforms to reduce teacher and leader workload in partnership with all four unions.

“This deal will allow teachers and school leaders to call off strike action and resume normal relations with government.”

Pay rise is ‘properly funded’

The joint statement adds that the offer “is properly funded for schools”.

“The government has committed that all schools will receive additional funding above what was proposed in March - building on the additional £2 billion given to schools in the Autumn Statement,” it continues. 

The government will also provide a hardship fund of up to £40 million to support schools facing the greatest financial challenges.

In May, reports emerged that the STRB, which makes recommendations on teacher pay, had advised that teachers should receive a 6.5 per cent pay increase for 2023-24.

Since then, all four education unions have repeatedly called for the government to publish the STRB recommendation.

Last week, the NEU’s Dr Bousted said that the government could bring an end to the ongoing teacher strikes if it met and funded a 6.5 per cent pay rise for teachers, which an independent pay body was then understood to have recommended.

Teachers took part in the seventh day of national strike action this year in a long-running dispute over pay, having rejected the government’s offer of a £1,000 one-off payment for the current school year (2022-23) and an average 4.5 per cent rise for staff next year.

The NEU has a current mandate to strike but the DfE is in dispute with all four main education unions, all of which have launched ballots for strike action for the next academic year that could be coordinated. 

This week, the NASUWT announced that its teacher members had voted to take strike action over pay, workload and working time from September.