Teacher pay rise: What do teaching unions think about the government pay offer - and what isn't it addressing?

• The new government has offered an ‘above inflation’ pay rise for teachers from September.
• It will fully cover the cost too, handing over almost £1.2 billion in extra funding to schools.
• Teaching unions are broadly supportive of the move, and some have advised their members to accept it.
• But they say this is just the start of what the government needs to do to help boost the teaching profession.

Unions have praised the Labour government’s new pay offer for teachers, but say the long overdue move is just the start of what is needed to restore the profession to its former glory.

Last year saw teachers and teaching unions caught up in a long-running pay dispute that devolved into ongoing strikes, with tens of thousands of educators walking out of the classroom. There were fears the disruption would impact secondary school pupils preparing for their GCSE and A level exams, but unions said teachers had been suffering real-term pay cuts for a decade - and enough was enough.

After the Conservative government was accused of trying to “kick the can down the road” by refusing to publish an official recommendation on pay rises for teacher’s before the July election, the new Labour government has now scored immediate points by accepting the recommended award immediately. It could see England’s teachers receive an above inflation pay rise, which could amount to thousands more in their pay packets over the course of the year.

But what exactly is the government offering, and do teachers and teaching unions think it will be enough? Here’s what you need to know:

What exactly is the government offering?

Last week, the government announced it would offer a 5.5% pay increase to teachers and school leaders, as recommended by the School Teachers’ Review Body - an independent group that makes recommendations to government on teacher pay in England, based on the economy and other expert evidence.

If teachers vote to accept the offer next month, it will be back-paid to 1 September. The pay deal is the equivalent to an extra £2,500 a year for the average teacher, and would take the median salary to about £49,000.

The move will be fully funded by the government, which will pay out nearly £1.2 billion in extra funding to schools to cover their costs over the next financial year, including the pay rise for teachers. Schools will also no longer be made to use the performance related pay system to agree on individual teachers’ pay rises - which will also be scrapped in September.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson says the investment is part of the new government’s work towards making teaching a more attractive profession, with the aim being to recruit 6,500 new teachers. “The Chancellor has laid out a grim picture - our public finances are in a devastating state and tough choices need to be made to help rebuild the foundations of the economy.

“But while the impact teachers have on children and young people’s life chances can’t be measured in pounds and pence, those working in education must be in no doubt about their value,” she said in a statement. “Teachers lay the foundations of children’s lives. An investment in them is an investment in the next generation, and this government is determined to make sure every child - whatever their background - has the opportunity to succeed.”

The pay award will only apply to maintained schools, the government has confirmed, as academies have more freedom over their pay and conditions. However, in practice it says that most academies also follow the review body’s recommendations.

What do teachers think?

Teachers and teaching unions have generally been positive about the proposed pay rise, which notably is above the rate of inflation. The National Education Union (NEU) has recommended its members vote to accept the deal when they are balloted in late September.

General secretary Daniel Kebede said it was a sign of the “positive leadership” needed to address the profession’s ongoing recruitment and retention crisis. The announcement was “a strong signal” to teachers that the new government would be charting a different course, when it came to education.

“A 5.5% pay award is a necessary first step in the reversal of the real terms pay cuts inflicted upon teachers and school leaders during the Conservatives’ time in office,” he continued. “The £1.2 billion investment to fund this pay award will be welcome news to school leaders who are juggling overstretched budgets resulting from years of funding cuts.”

Dr Patrick Roach, the general Secretary of NASUWT - The Teachers’ Union, agreed. “[The] above-inflation announcement is an important first step in restoring the competitiveness of teachers’ pay after the last 14 years of pay freezes, pay cuts and below-inflation awards that fuelled the teacher recruitment and retention crisis - and left teachers’ pay in freefall in real-terms year after year.

“We welcome confirmation that, despite the huge pressures on the public finances, the new government is making a clear commitment to investing in teachers and protecting school budgets,” he added.

Are there any issues the offer doesn’t address?

The NEU also said that while the pay offer was a positive sign, there is still some way to go to restore “what teachers and school leaders have lost since 2010”, something that will need to be addressed in future pay rounds.

One important issue the union wanted the government to consider was how teacher pay was determined. “The so-called independent pay review body is a failed process that has resulted in pay cuts over the last 14 years, contributing to a deepening recruitment and retention crisis,” Mr Kebede said. “It was only the efforts of NEU members - who took 8 days of strike action in 2023, and who again voted in an indicative ballot this year - that changed the pay review body's thinking on teacher pay.”

The NEU and NASUWT both agreed there were other issues that would need to be worked on to, such as teacher workload, to make teaching an attractive profession once more. Dr Roach said: “As we look forward to discussions with the new government on a national workforce plan to secure world-class working conditions in our schools, we also welcome the efforts to secure a new deal for teachers and for children’s education within just a few weeks of Ministers taking office. We now look forward to working with the government to build on this positive start.”

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) added that for many schools, budgets were already stretched thin - something that would need to be considered when the extra funding was paid out. General secretary Paul Whiteman said it should make sure that schools “already under the most significant financial pressures, such as special educational needs schools, small schools and alternative provision, get extra support where necessary”.

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