A pay review body has urged the government not to freeze teachers’ salary for another year, warning it could “jeopardise efforts” to attract people to the profession.
A report by the School Teachers’ Review Body published tonight confirms that education secretary Gavin Williamson had not been seeking recommendations for pay rises for most teachers for 2021-2022.
This decision has been fiercely condemned by heads and teachers’ unions, who described it as an ” absolute insult” after the year schools have been through during the Covid crisis.
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And the STRB report says: “We are firmly of the view that a pay pause for teachers of more than one year risks a severe negative impact on the competitive position of the teaching profession, jeopardising efforts to attract and retain the high-quality graduates necessary to deliver improved pupil outcomes.”
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The STRB has suggested to the government that it should be allowed “to fully exercise our role in making recommendations on pay uplifts for all teachers and school leaders for 2022-23”.
The decision to freeze most teachers’ pay, which was first announced last year, and the timing of tonight’s report, has been strongly criticised by union bosses.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Following a year in which teachers and leaders have worked flat out on managing a battery of Covid control measures as well as assessing students following the government’s decision to cancel public exams, the decision to implement a pay freeze is an absolute insult.”
He also warned that it risked “worsening teacher shortages in our schools”.
And he criticised the timing of the announcement, adding: “It also beggars belief that the pay decision for the new academic year has come so late in the summer term when some schools have already broken up for the holidays.
“Not only is this extremely discourteous to schools and teachers but it makes budget planning an exercise in guesswork if confirmation of the pay award is so delayed.”
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union the NAHT, said: “School leaders and teachers will be rightly angry that the government’s pay freeze will deliver yet another 3-4 per cent real-terms pay cut next year, based on the Treasury’s own predictions of inflation.
“The teaching profession has long struggled to recruit and retain school leaders - NAHT’s survey evidence shows that the leadership pipeline is broken at all career stages. Too few experienced teachers want to step up to senior leadership positions and even fewer can be persuaded to take on the heavy responsibilities of a headteacher.”
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said: “The government’s confirmation of its plans to implement a pay freeze for teachers and other public sector employees is completely unacceptable.
“Teachers and other education staff are key workers - all of whom have contributed hugely to the country’s pandemic response.
“All education staff deserve a significant pay increase, not another real-terms pay cut.”
Labour’s shadow education secretary, Kate Green, said: “A real-terms pay cut for the vast majority of teachers is an insult after the heroic work they have done to keep children safe and learning throughout the pandemic.
“After the work they have done in the last year, teachers and school leaders deserve a government that is on their side, but instead the Conservatives are leaving them worse off and breaking a manifesto promise to raise starting salaries.”
The STRB report says: “We received our remit letter from the secretary of state on 15 December 2020. The letter referred to the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s announcement at the Spending Review in November 2020 that pay rises in the public sector ‘will be restrained and targeted in 2021-22’.
“The government said its policy aimed to protect jobs and investment in public services. In this context, the secretary of state said he was not seeking a recommendation for pay uplifts in 2021-22 for the majority of teachers.”
In a written ministerial statement today, Mr Williamson said there will be a pause to headline pay rises for the majority of public sector workforces in 2021-22.
He said the STRB has recommended a pay award of £250 for all teachers earning less than £24,000.
Mr Williamson said: “I would like to reiterate that the £250 award should be paid to all eligible teachers, whether located on a published pay point or not, and that the pause on pay will apply to headline pay uplifts only.”
