Education secretary Gavin Williamson has today asked the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) to look at what adjustments should be made to all teachers’ salary ranges in light of an uplift of NQT salaries to £30,000.

In an exclusive interview with Tes, Mr Williamson has already said that teacher salaries will be “levelled up” to coincide with a rise of £6,000 in starting salaries for new teachers from 2022.

And today he has sent a letter to the STRB, the independent body that advises on teacher pay, stating there is “a strong case” for significantly higher starting and early career salaries alongside “a relatively flatter pay progression structure”. 

His letter states: “My evidence will set out how a higher starting salary, alongside a revised pay progression structure, can be delivered in a way that is affordable across the school system as a whole whilst addressing the recruitment and retention challenges we face.”

An increase in teacher pay?

He adds: “It will, of course, remain the case that schools will be responsible for determining increases in individual teachers’ pay on the basis of a school-level assessment of performance.”

Mr Williamson earlier told Tes that a “levelling up” of all teacher salaries in line with the rise of NQT salaries would avoid scenarios whereby a new teacher in their first year could earn more than a colleague who had been in the job for two or three years.

Today he called on the STRB to carry out: “An assessment of the adjustments that should be made to the salary and allowance ranges for classroom teachers, unqualified teachers and school leaders to promote recruitment and retention, within the bounds of affordability across the school system as a whole and in the light of my views on the need for an uplift to starting salaries.”

Mr Williamson also sought recommendations on the 2020-21 teachers’ cost-of-living pay award to follow this year’s cost-of-living pay increase of 2.75 per cent.