The Liberal Democrats have called for the government to find new money to give all teachers the full 3.5 per cent pay rise recommended by the Department for Education’s expert pay body.

Delegates at the party’s annual conference in Brighton today passed an emergency motion that blames pay cuts, workload and stress for the teacher shortage crisis.

This year the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) said all teachers should get a 3.5 per cent pay rise to improve recruitment and retention.

However, the DfE restricted this salary increase to teachers on the main and unqualified pay ranges, with those on the upper and leadership scales facing real-terms pay cuts.

The DfE said the pay award would be “fully funded”, but its new teacher pay grant does not cover the first 1 per cent of the pay rise, which the DfE says schools should have already budgeted for.

School budgets ‘already overstretched’

Today’s Lib Dem motion calls on the government to “allocate new money to fund the recommendations of the School Teachers’ Review Body in full, using additional funding from the Treasury, rather than from already overstretched school budgets”.

It adds that this is the only way to ensure that the pay rise “does not result in redundancies and an increase in stress and workload, thereby increasing the harm done to schools and our education system”.

The party’s education spokesperson, Layla Moran, accused the Conservatives of presiding over “a perfect storm of budget cuts”, leaving schools without the resources to deliver high-quality lessons while suffering “year after year of real-terms pay cuts, while working longer and longer hours”.

She added: “We must take urgent steps to help ensure our teachers can once again feel like the trusted and valued professionals they are.”

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, welcomed the Lib Dem vote, and added: “We will be seeking support for our campaign from other political parties throughout the party conference season.”

DfE spokesperson said: “The salary of a classroom teacher on the main pay range could increase by between £803 and £1,366 - while the upper pay range for experienced teachers will be uplifted by 2 per cent and the pay range for those in leadership positions will be uplifted by 1.5 per cent.

“That rise has been backed with over half a billion pounds of government investment, and with funding in real terms 50 per cent higher per pupil by 2020 than in 2000.”