Schools in England are due to get around £500 million in extra funds towards the teachers’ pay award this year. This was in response to the risk of a strike ballot by the largest education union, the NEU. Now schools can be expected to fund a 3.5% teachers pay increase for the current school year, and an additional 30% pay rise in September 2027 

Mace went and asked school associations what they think of the change – this is what they said.  

Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union 

“Finally, we have a government that accepts the reality that any teacher pay award must be fully funded. Plugging the £460 million black hole in school budgets signals a welcome return to reality, and a message of hope for the entire school community. 

“Be in no doubt that the significant ground conceded by government is a consequence of NEU members’ willingness to take a stand. It not only includes those who voted in our indicative ballot, but everyone who has campaigned against School Cuts and fought the effects of austerity in our classrooms.  

“Schools have been running on empty for far too long. Leaders simply could not afford to fund the pay award as set out by the previous education secretary. The new administration has accepted that it is wrong to force schools to make cuts to education just to make ends meet.  

“There is still much to do. Seventy-four per cent of schools have less money in real terms than they did in 2010, badly impacting upon the educational experience children receive. Likewise, experienced teachers have seen their pay cut by 23 per cent in real terms since 2010, contributing to the ongoing recruitment and retention crisis. Government must now enter into discussions on a long-term solution to school funding and pay.  

“We hope to work with this government to ensure that education is truly valued in this country. We hope today marks an important turning point, and one we as a union will aim to build from. We must make austerity in the classroom a thing of the past.”

Paul Whiteman, General Secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT 

“The government’s decision not to claw back these pension savings from school budgets is certainly welcome.  

“We wrote to the previous chancellor about this in May of this year and we are pleased that the new administration has heard and understood our demands. 

“We will need to look carefully at the detail to determine whether this means the pay uplift is genuinely fully funded at an individual school level, but it certainly puts schools in a better position than they would otherwise have been.” 

Pepe Di’Iasio, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders 

“We are pleased that the government has seen sense and found a way of providing additional funding for the school teachers’ pay award.  School leaders were extremely concerned that the shortfall they were facing would leave them with no alternative other than to make further cutbacks to educational provision. The situation was that stark. 

“We have been representing these concerns to the government over the past few weeks and this breakthrough is very welcome. However, we note that the government has said only that this money will cover costs ‘at national level’ and we will be taking a close look at the implications at the level of individual schools. 

“It should not need saying that every school must have the funding that it requires to pay its staff. Despite the extra funding, the wider pressure on school and college budgets remains intense. It is essential that the government supports our shared ambitions for education with the funding necessary to deliver them.”