The National Education Union snap survey disclosed that 95% of members voted for a 5.5% pay rise, ending months of industrial action.
Teachers in England have voted massively to accept a pay rise of 5.5%. However, they cautioned ministers that without further “corrections,” pay would remain uncompetitive, and teachers would continue.
95% of the respondents who participated in the National Education Union snap poll voted to accept the 2024-2025 offer, which would give schools an additional £1.2bn to Carter for the pay rise.
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, introduced the next pay round for 2025-2026 with a letter to the School Teachers’ Review Body, seeking their suggestions as soon as the results were announced.
Under the previous government, the process slipped back, causing problems for school leaders setting budgets. However, Philipson told the School Teachers’ Review Body she is keen to return to a “more timely” annual pay process. She stated that the government wants to declare the next pay awards “as close to the start of the financial year of April as possible.”
The education secretary asked the independent body, which makes suggestions to the government about teachers’ pay, to deliberate on how the pay framework could be adapted to promote more flexible working as the government seeks to improve hiring and retaining teachers.
Philipson also acknowledged the School Teachers Review Body’s request for more frequent and detailed equality, diversity and inclusion data at the national level and dedicated to publishing pay and progression data by protected characteristics.
In addition, Phillipson’s remit letter refers to the challenging financial situation her government faces, citing £22 billion in additional funding burden that will serve as the background for upcoming decisions on funding and pay.
She ended, however, by saying, “Alongside the pay round and formal funding processes, we will not hesitate to make further progress on wider issues that affect the teaching profession so that we raise its status and improve recruitment and retention.”
National Education Secretary Daniel Kebede stated: “The earlier publication of the remit is a welcome early signal that the new government will give teachers the urgent attention they deserve.
“The secretary of state is also right to highlight the need to raise the profession’s status and tackle recruitment and retention – a marked contrast to the head-in-sand approach of successive Tory predecessors.
“But without a clear recognition of the need for further corrections in pay, teacher pay will remain uncompetitive, teacher shortages will persist and the government will not achieve its aims.”
The Association of School and College Leaders general secretary, Pepe Di’Iasio, said, “The pay award will need to be sufficient to address a severe shortage of teachers both in terms of recruitment and retention.
“It is vital that the government puts in place the funding that will be necessary to make this possible in the autumn budget on 30 October, and that this covers college staff as well as school staff.”
