Teachers’ leaders have called on the Government to give teachers a pay rise this year, to “urgently repair the damage” to school staff salaries.

       In a joint statement from unions representing almost all headteachers and teachers in England, the Association for School and College Leaders (ASCL), the NAHT school leaders’ union, the NEU teachers’ union, the NASUWT teachers’ union and Voice Community have called on the School Teachers’ Review Body to increase pay above inflation rates to solve the issue of staff shortages.

       School leaders’ pay has been cut by a fifth in real terms since 2010, and this, in combination with high stakes accountability, crushing workload, long hours and inadequate school funding, is driving leaders from the job they love

       Paul Whiteman, NAHT

       Geoff Barton, general secretary of ASCL, said that teacher shortages were “a direct result of the erosion of teacher pay over the past decade”.

       He added that the situation needed to be addressed with a “significant above inflation settlement” to improve the value of starting salaries, as well as raising the pay of experienced teachers and school leaders.

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       “And the government has to ensure that schools have sufficient funding to afford that settlement,” he added.

       Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, said: “Leadership supply for our schools is teetering on the brink. School leaders’ pay has been cut by a fifth in real terms since 2010, and this, in combination with high stakes accountability, crushing workload, long hours and inadequate school funding, is driving leaders from the job they love.”

       “The STRB is an independent review body – it must act like one and make the right recommendations based on objective evidence and free from government constraint and interference,” he said.

       On Friday, the Government’s evidence to the STRB proposed an increase to school funding to ensure starting salaries are raised to ￡30,000 by the end of 2023-24, with progression between each pay point at 5.5%, while teachers in upper pay ranges and leadership positions would receive a 3% pay rise in 2022/23.

       Teaching unions say real term pay cuts and a crushing workload are affecting staff numbers (PA)

       (PA Archive)

       “While retention rates in early career have stabilised or even improved in recent years, they continue to be challenging relative to historic benchmarks and are likely to worsen after the pandemic (andsubsequent recession) subsides,” a document of Government evidence submitted to the STRB said.

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       The unions called for a fair national pay structure as well as the removal of performance-related pay (PRP).

       They said there needed to be an end to differential pay increases and called for urgent action to cut staff workload.