Teachers across the country are set to strike as schools are told they face cuts to fund 3.5 per cent pay rise

Teachers are preparing to go on strike across the country after ministers announced school cuts would be made to fund a new 3.5 per cent pay rise.

The National Education Union (NEU) said that it will not ‘accept’ the agreement in which teachers will receive 3.5 percent more salary starting from September and 3 percent more the following year.

It will not be ‘fully funded’, although it is more generous than the original offer of 6.5 per cent over three years.

Instead, schools will be expected to find 1 percent of salary increases each year from existing budgets, which could actually mean staff cuts.

This means the NEU, which has 500,000 members, will go ahead with its official strike vote this October, following a successful indicative vote in the spring. There will be parades after Christmas.

Union officials are confident they will get enough votes to stage the largest nationwide strike in recent memory.

The announcement by the government comes after it accepted recommendations from the independent School Teachers Review Board (STRB).

Reacting today, NEU General Secretary Daniel Kebede said: ‘Pressure from NEU has pushed the Government beyond its initial salary and funding offer.

‘But let’s be clear: a partially funded solution still means cuts to education and the NEU will never accept that.

‘Schools are being asked to find £460 million from budgets already at breaking point. This is equivalent to 8,300 school staff: 3,900 teachers and 4,400 support staff.

‘Ministers cannot claim to want more teachers next year when there is such a serious reduction in numbers.

‘In Andy Burnham’s constituency of Makerfield, this means 40 schools are being forced to find a collective £866,842 from their own budgets just to cover the Government’s need to fund part of this wage award.’

Mr Kebede also noted that salary increases may not keep pace with inflation over the next two years.

Inflation in the UK was at 2.8 percent, according to the latest figures covering the year until May.

But the Bank of England said in April that inflation in the UK could rise to 3.6 or 3.7 per cent by the end of this year and, in a worst-case scenario, reach 6 per cent next year.

Mr Kebede added: ‘At a time when inflation is set to rise, members know that this proposal is not the decisive change needed to reverse real-time pay cuts since 2010 or restore the competitiveness of teacher salaries.

The National Education Union (NEU) said it would ‘not accept’ the deal which sees teachers paid 3.5 per cent more from September and 3 per cent more the following year (image: Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson)

‘Inadequate funding harms learning, narrows opportunities, causes staff shortages and pushes workloads beyond breaking point.’

The NEU will likely coordinate strike action with sister union NASUWT, which plans to hold a vote to strike on the same issue.

In addition, NEU seeks to expand its membership to ensure maximum disruption, especially among support staff such as dinner staff, teaching assistants, and librarians.

This will mean chaos for schools across the country; students will miss vital work and parents will have to find last-minute child care.

Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott said: ‘This is another blow in the teeth for schools that have been repeatedly let down by Bridget Phillipson’s broken promises.

‘Schools are having to come up with almost half a billion dollars to cover unfunded salary awards. This money has to come from somewhere, and it will mean more teachers losing their jobs.

‘It’s no surprise that teachers and parents are losing confidence in themselves’ [her].’

In October, the Department for Education (DfE) suggested in evidence to the STRB that teachers’ salaries should increase by 6.5 per cent over 2026/27, 2027/28 and 2028/29; This was a less generous offer than the one announced today.

Although more generous than the original offer of 6.5 per cent over three years, it ‘will not be fully funded’ (pictured: Mr Kebede with NEU activists at a demonstration earlier this year)

This afternoon the DfE said £1.8bn of additional funding would be made available to schools over two years to support pay rises for teachers and support staff, and £485m of additional funding would be made available to colleges and further education providers over the same time frame.

The NEU had previously said it would launch a formal vote on strike action in October if the Government failed to deliver a fully-funded, above-inflation pay offer. This afternoon the union said it was ‘considering all options’.

Today’s announcement also included a promise that academy trust directors’ pay will be capped at £174,000 from September.

Trusts will need to get Government approval before advertising roles above this salary.

Education Minister Bridget Phillipson said: ‘Our wonderful school and college teachers go above and beyond every day and I am determined that dedication is not only appreciated but rewarded.

‘This multi-year agreement, backed by significant additional investment, demonstrates the great value we place on our teachers and gives schools and colleges certainty over their pay and budgets.

‘It is also right that classroom teachers do not see executive salaries rising faster than their own or being set at excessive levels; So tighter controls will mean unfair executive pay is a thing of the past and will help level the playing field for school staff and put every pound into classrooms.’

Other unions reacted with disappointment to the pay award. NAHT, an association of chiefs, said: ‘It is useful for the government to introduce some additional funding to support schools, but we need to be clear that this is not a fully funded award and will mean further pressure on already stretched budgets. ‘There is little headroom in current budgets and talking about ‘maximizing value’ is utterly unhelpful.’

Meanwhile, ASCL presidents’ union General Secretary Pepe Di’Iasio also welcomed the increase but said: ‘It will be very difficult for many schools to find the necessary money from their existing budgets.’

Stacey Booth, of the GMB union, said today’s teacher pay offer was higher than the 3.3 per cent offered to school support staff.

He said: ‘It’s disgusting and really adds salt to the wound that hard-working, underpaid school support staff are hearing today that their teacher colleagues will be offered higher pay than they are.’

Leora Cruddas, of the Confederation of School Trusts, a professional body representing academy chains, said the executive pay move was ‘micromanagement from Whitehall’.

He said: ‘We should be empowering trusts and local leaders to do what their communities need, rather than assuming the DfE knows best.’

Research from the National Foundation for Educational Research shows that although teacher salaries have increased in real terms over the past two years, this figure is still lower than in 2020 and 2010 when inflation is taken into account.

OPINION: ‘Another blow to schools’ – by Laura Trott, Shadow Education Secretary

Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott said the announcement was ‘another blow in the teeth for schools’

‘Bridget Phillipson’s half a billion pound school cut is a fresh blow in the teeth for schools that have been repeatedly let down by her broken promises. Just last week, teachers and support staff came to a damning verdict on Labour’s record on education. The survey conducted by Near East University revealed that almost three quarters believed that the Labor Party performed poorly on education, and Phillipson scored even worse than the Prime Minister. Not a single teacher surveyed thought he or she was “very good.”

‘This is no surprise, Labour’s ideological tax on education was supposed to pay 6,500 more teachers, now it’s 1,900 fewer. Ministers promised schools would be fully compensated for the Rachel Reeves Business Tax, but they have broken that promise, leaving schools at a loss and putting teachers’ jobs at risk. Schools are now having to find almost half a billion pounds to cover unfunded wage awards. This money has to come from somewhere. This will mean fewer teachers, larger class sizes, or other cuts to the school budget. The Department for Education will cover the rest from its own budget, which raises the question of what cuts Labor will make next.

‘When we had to delay paying teachers until this point in the year, Bridget Phillipson called it ‘highly irresponsible’ and a ‘total dereliction of duty’. The hypocrisy is astounding but symptomatic of this terrible government.

‘This reflects a wider problem. Politics is about choices, and Bridget Phillipson made her own choices. It has found hundreds of thousands of pounds for social media influencers, while scaling back programs that actually improve children’s opportunities. The Latin Excellence Program has ended. Funding for computing, science, teacher training scholarships and, more recently, the PE Premium have all been cut. While ministers spend money on projects that do little to raise standards, schools are being asked to do more with less. This means death by a thousand cuts, with the biggest cost falling on the children who can least afford it.

‘The Labor Party has turned education into a complete mess. They have done nothing but destroy the building blocks of our school system. If Andy Burnham really wants the “complete rethinking of education” he calls for, he needs to start defunding our schools. Otherwise, teachers who lose their jobs will pay the price, and students will pay the price.’