Recently, the government proposed increasing starting salaries for new teachers in England. While the proposals were welcomed, teaching unions petitioned the body responsible for reviewing teaching pay (STRB – School Teacher Review Body) to consider pay rises for all teaching staff, not just newly qualified teachers.

How Much is the Proposed Pay Rise Worth?

STRB is an independent panel responsible for making many recommendations to government, most notably pay rates, to the DfE. The government department has said they would like to give new teachers a pay rise of 8.9% in September 2022. The following year would see a 7.1% for their second year in teaching. That means the starting salary for an NQT would go from £25,714 now up to £30,000 in 2023.

However, the pay rise in the year after that would be just 2% at the upper end for those with more experience. All other teachers would get a 3% pay rise in this new tax year while 2023-24’s rise would be 2%.

Where Would the Money Come From?

The DfE’s has categorically said the STRB should back higher pay rises to attract and retain new teaching talent. They believe the attractive pay increases for new teachers will improve retention rates by 0.25% initially.

However, the pay rises will not come from more money from central government. Instead, schools will be expected to pay from existing budgets – a combination of government funding and independent fund raising.

Schools have varied policies and plenty of autonomy when it comes to setting pay rates. However, they tend to go along with STRB and government recommendations.

What Do Unions Have to Say?

The UK’s four best known teaching unions came together to issue a joint statement to STRB. The message stated that pay increases should also apply to medium and long-term service teachers, and school leaders, not just NQTs. They said it would go some way to counteract real terms pay loss that have happened across the board in teaching since 2010 due to rises being under inflation for successive years.

NASUWT pointed out that some teachers resorted to using food banks and taking on second jobs. They went further than the stated requirements from other unions, asking for:

•          A 12% blanket pay rise for all teachers regardless of experience
•          A broad review of renumeration packages for teachers
•          Structural change to how teacher pay is decided
•          More government money for schools to pay for the rises

Many teachers left the industry during the pandemic citing stress and lack of respect from government. Earlier this year, government figures showed substitute teachers and classroom assistants are similarly in high demand and short supply.