Teachers consulted on 2.8% pay rise and potential strike action
Around 284,000 members of the National Education Union working in maintained schools in England will be asked to vote.
Teachers are to be consulted about a 2.8% pay rise and whether they are prepared to strike over the offer.
Around 284,000 members of the National Education Union (NEU) working in maintained schools in England will be asked to vote on accepting or rejecting the Government’s recommendation and if they want to take industrial action.
The union said the preliminary ballot will gauge teachers’ views on the need for a fully-funded pay award that takes steps to address the “crisis” in recruitment and retention.
The Government’s recommendation to the School Teachers’ Review Body of a 2.8% increase for teachers in 2025/26 is likely to be below inflation and will do nothing to repair the “damage” to teachers’ pay against other graduate professions, said the NEU.
The union has complained the pay recommendation is unfunded, with schools paying for it by making efficiencies elsewhere in their budget.
Unions have warned schools have endured 14 years of cuts under the previous Conservative administration.
NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “We all know that an unfunded 2.8% pay award is unacceptable.
“It will deepen the chronic recruitment and retention crisis in our schools, and means more cuts for already struggling schools.
“Pay has fallen by around a fifth against inflation since 2010, pushing education into the worst crisis in decades. More schools are in deficit now than at any point since 2010. Class sizes are the largest on record.
“Our members do not want to strike but ignoring the profession and backing educators into a corner means we will be left with no choice.
“The Government was elected in the hope it would value education, but a 2.8% pay award without funding does the opposite. Like the Conservatives before them, they are forcing schools to make more cuts.
“It is short-sighted, it is wrong, and teachers will not stand for it. There is time yet for (Chancellor) Rachel Reeves and her colleagues to think again and deliver for teachers, children, and our schools.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “In three years, teachers have had a combined pay increase of over 17%.
“As schools and families continue doing everything they can to improve attendance, and after the millions of school days lost through both the pandemic and recent industrial action, this is very unwelcome news. For this Government and for the Education Secretary, it is always children who come first.”
The ballot closes on April 11.
