Teacher numbers plummet despite Labour’s ‘vindictive’ private school tax to pay for more

The number of teachers has fallen sharply despite Labor’s “vindictive” tax on private schools for an additional 6,500 schools.

New official statistics show there will be 466,372 teachers in 2025, down 1,900 on the previous year when Labor came to power.

The latest available data shows declines at both primary and secondary levels, with only the number of teachers with special needs increasing.

The government said the reductions were due to a drop in pupil numbers resulting from a falling birth rate and that primary schools were not included in the recruitment target.

It was stated that the number of teachers in further education environments, which are not included in the statistics, increased by 1,646.

In its manifesto, Labor said the new VAT on private school fees was needed to pay for an extra 6,500 teachers for state education by the end of this Parliament.

Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott said: ‘Labour claimed that taxing education would increase the number of teachers in state schools. Instead, teacher numbers dropped while children faced problems due to school closures and mid-year transfers.

‘This is yet another broken promise from Labor and only puts more pressure on state schools.’

New official statistics show there will be 466,372 teachers in 2025, down 1,900 on the previous year when Labor came to power (image: protesters against private school tax last year)

Shadow Business and Trade Secretary Gareth Davies added: ‘Labour’s whole excuse for vindictively taxing private education was that they promised 6,500 extra teachers in their manifesto.

‘Now it has been revealed that the number of teachers has decreased. ‘Another promise was broken and turned into dust.’

National Education Union (YDB) Secretary General Daniel Kebede said that this was ‘a mockery of the government’s promise’.

Data from the Department for Education (DfE) is taken from the annual November snapshot census and rounded to the nearest 100.

This shows that there will be 212,800 teachers in state-funded kindergartens and primary schools in 2025; this number was approximately 2,900.

There were 218,500 students in secondary schools, a decrease of 500.

Meanwhile, there were 30,300 teachers in special needs schools and pupil referral units, up 1,100, and the number of teachers employed centrally by councils was up 300 to 4,800.

Ministers have a long history of claiming that an extra £1.7bn a year from private school tax will be spent on state sector teachers by 2029-30.

Labour’s election manifesto stated that the commitment for 6,500 teachers would be paid for by ‘ending tax breaks for private schools’.

This was echoed in December last year when Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: ‘Every penny of this money will go into our state schools to ensure every child gets the best start in life, and that’s mostly through being able to recruit and retain the best teachers.’

In October Education Minister Bridget Phillipson mocked private school parents affected by the tax, saying: ‘Our state schools need teachers more than private schools need embossed stationery.’

However, in June last year, the Labor Party announced that the recruitment target would not apply to primary schools due to the decline in student numbers.

Officials today said overall numbers had actually increased as primary schools not covered by the data release were dropped and further education colleges added.

They also said they were using a November 2023 starting point instead of 2024 when measuring hiring progress.

Looking at the two-year period between 2023 and 2025, increases were seen in secondary, special needs and further education settings; this number reached 4,654 in total.

The government said it was still ‘on track’ to meet its recruitment target and was ‘rebalancing and targeting investment where it is needed most’.

It also said statistics showed ‘one of the lowest rates of teachers leaving in the history of the school workforce census’, with 2,100 fewer teachers than last year.

Announcing the data, Education Minister Bridget Phillipson said: ‘We are making real progress where it is needed most: more than two-thirds of our commitment to recruit 6,500 additional teachers has already been met, records show fewer teachers are leaving the profession and more are choosing to build long, rewarding careers in teaching.’

But Jack Worth of the National Educational Research Foundation said the increase in figures between 2023 and 2024 was unlikely to be due to Labour.

He said: ‘The Labor Government only came into office in July 2024 so its policies are unlikely to have a meaningful impact on these figures.’

Meanwhile, other MPs reacted with dismay to the headline figures.

Shadow Education Minister Saqib Bhatti said on X: ‘1,900 fewer teachers! Independent schools are being taxed and forgotten and what happens to all that money?

‘Where are the 6,500 extra teachers promised by the Labor Party?

‘It is quite clear that with fewer teachers and more students moving into state schools, the state sector will come under greater pressure.’

It comes after figures from the Independent Schools Council showed there are 30,000 fewer pupils in private schools since Labor came to power in 2024.

Iain Mansfield, of the Policy Exchange think tank, said: ‘30,000 fewer children in private schools. 1,900 fewer teachers in public schools. It’s a lose/lose proposition.’