Teaching unions and the government have agreed to hold “intensive talks” on teacher pay, conditions and workload reduction, after a breakthrough on NHS pay saw health worker strikes suspended.
The offer – backed by the Royal College of Nursing, the GMB and Unison – includes a one-off lump sum for 2022-23 that rises in value up the NHS pay bands, as well as a permanent 5 per cent rise on all pay points for 2023-24.
Union members will now vote on whether to accept the deal, with workers expected to consider the detail over the coming days and weeks.
In a further development, education unions agreed to “create a period of calm for two weeks during which time they have said no further strike dates will be announced” as they hold intensified talks with the government.
But it came as the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union announced that HM Passport Office staff will strike for five weeks from the start of April – potentially leaving more than one million passport applications stuck in a bottleneck of applications.
