The NEU teaching union has called off its strike action in Wales this week to allow its members to consider a new pay offer from the Welsh government.
Taken over two years, the NEU says, the pay offer amounts to an 11.8 per cent rise for all teachers (comprising 6.5 per cent this year, followed by 5 per cent next year) plus a 1.5 per cent non-consolidated payment this year.
The pay award recommended by the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body in July was for a 5 per cent rise this year and 3.5 per cent next year.
The revised offer also includes a “no detriment principle” so that should there be a higher pay settlement in England, Wales would match that pay award.
In Scotland the teaching unions are on the cusp of officially accepting a deal that would result in a 14.6 per cent increase in pay for most teachers by January 2024, spread over three separate rises over 28 months.
The NEU said that its Welsh members would now be consulted via electronic ballot and that the strike days scheduled in Wales for 15 March and 16 March had been called off.
In England those strike days remain in place and the NEU has been left out of the latest talks between the Department for Education and unions taking place today and tomorrow.
Improved teacher pay offer welcomed
The NEU is refusing to suspend strike action until the UK government makes a pay offer that could end the dispute, but education secretary Gillian Keegan is refusing to talk to the union until it pauses its strike action.
Today Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, dismissed the meetings with Ms Keegan, saying they were “individual meetings with unions that don’t currently have mandates for action”.
On the latest Welsh pay offer, Dr Bousted and Kevin Courtney, her fellow joint general secretary, said: “We thank the Welsh government for the constructive manner in which they have pursued a solution to the current dispute over pay.
“It is vital that we do all we can, together, to combat the recruitment and retention crisis and ensure that more people join the profession and stay in the profession. The Welsh government recognises this and has also understood the importance of the pay offer being fully funded. They have also committed to working with us on tackling workload.”
Welsh school leaders’ union NAHT Cymru, which is currently taking industrial action short of a strike over pay, has also welcomed the offer.
However, Laura Doel, director of NAHT Cymru, said the union still had concerns about the funding of the pay offer, given that local authorities have left schools to fund pay rises in the past.
Ms Doel said: “It is not unreasonable to ask the employers to demonstrate how pay awards are being funded.”
Strike action scheduled for 14 February in Wales was suspended while the NEU sought feedback on a previous offer, which included the additional 1.5 per cent consolidated rise and the 1.5 per cent lump sum. However, that offer did not include the improved offer for 2023-24, which under the current deal, would go from 3.5 per cent to 5 per cent.
