Teachers and school leaders have accused the Government of putting schools “on the brink of a full-blown funding crisis” with their offer on teacher pay. Five education unions, representing the vast majority of teachers and school leaders across England, have warned that the Government’s pay award will be damaging to education, exacerbating the recruitment crisis while schools are burdened with additional costs at a time of rising inflation.
This week, the Government announced an 8.9% pay rise for early career teachers and a 5% rise for more experienced staff in 2022-23 but schools will need to fund the rise out of their existing budgets. The Association for School and College Leaders (ASCL), the NAHT school leaders’ union, the NEU and NASUWT teaching unions, and Community, the union for education professionals, have issued a joint criticism of the proposals, arguing that with RPI inflation already at 11.8% the awards represent a pay cut.
They say this will make it more difficult to recruit staff and put pressure on stretched school budgets. Geoff Barton, ASCL general secretary, said that the Government had “managed at a single stroke to put schools on the brink of a full-blown funding crisis”. He added: “It is a masterclass in mismanagement that puts educational standards at risk.”
