The NEU recognises that support staff are among the most underpaid and undervalued workers in the education sector. Support staff pay has lost around 20% of its real value since 2010. After years of real‑terms wage erosion, we believe an above‑inflation pay rise is an essential first step toward rectifying the major pay correction needed.
We are clear that any pay award must be fully funded by the central government. Schools and colleges cannot be left to absorb rising staff costs which are threatening jobs and driving unmanageable workloads.
About support staff pay
Most LA schools use the local government pay rates to pay their support staff in conjunction with National Joint Council (NJC) terms and conditions.
However, this can vary between local authorities. An employee's contract should state their rate of pay, the point on the local government pay scale that refers to, and how the rate will increase on an incremental basis to a certain point.
Whilst academies have the freedom to establish their own policies for pay and conditions, nearly all stand-alone academies and all Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) have maintained the link to the Local Government pay arrangements, which means that they adhere to the pay agreements reached periodically, and also use the Local Government pay spine and the National Agreement on Pay and Conditions of Service – otherwise known as the Green Book.
The NEU bargaining toolkit provides resources to support a proactive approach to pay issues in the workplace. Support staff have the right to be treated fairly on pay and this means we need to secure transparency and fairness in pay, with appropriate recognition of experience and proper payment for responsibilities undertaken.
Latest pay claim for Support Staff
Pay submission for 2026/27
The NJC unions have submitted the following pay claim for 2026/27:
- An increase of at least £3,000 or 10% (whichever is greater) across all NJC spinal column points
- A minimum pay rate of £15 an hour for the NJC pay spine
In addition:
- A two-hour reduction in the working week
- An increase of one day of annual leave
- The ability of all school support staff to take a day of paid leave during term time
- The abolition of the Level 1 Teaching Assistant role and instead all Level 1 role holders be moved onto Level 2
Latest Pay Claim for Support Staff - NEU Consultation
We were recently asked by Unison and Unite to give our input into the formulation of this year’s pay claim for school support staff, and in less than two days, thousands of you responded to our consultation.
The results showed 99% in favour of calling for a fully-funded, above-inflation pay claim. On the question of whether you were prepared to take strike action alongside the NJC unions to win the claim, 88% of you said ‘yes’.
NJC unions submitted the pay claim in December 2025. We anticipate a response to the pay claim around the end of January/early February 2026.
The need for an inflation-beating rise is clear: School support staff have lost around a fifth of their wages over the last 15 years. The result has been a support staff recruitment crisis, as workers increasingly seek better-paid employment elsewhere outside of the education sector.
Unless the Government commits to providing the money to enable Local Authorities, MATs and academies to honour the pay deal, then the funding shortfall created can only lead to further downward pressure on support staff job numbers and working conditions.
Pay agreement for 2025/26
The recognised local government unions - Unison, GMB and Unite - agreed with the employers (the Local Government Association) on this year’s pay round.
The local government unions submitted the following:
- An increase of at least £3,000 across all NJC spinal column points; in addition
- A clear plan to reach a minimum pay rate of £15 an hour
- One extra day of annual leave for all staff
- A reduction in the working week by two hours, with no loss of pay
- The ability for school staff to take at least one day of their annual leave during term time, with no loss of pay
The employers responded with the following “full and final offer”:
- With effect from 1 April 2025, an increase of 3.2 per cent to be paid as a consolidated, permanent addition on all NJC pay points 2 to 43 inclusive
- With effect from 1 April 2025 an increase of 3.20 per cent on all allowances
- With effect from 1 April 2026, the deletion of pay point 2 from the NJC pay spine.
After membership consultative exercises, the three Unions have accepted the employers’ “full and final offer”.
The NEU view on the 2025-26 pay offer
NEU members stood ready to join in any industrial action that the three unions may have called in an attempt to improve on the deal. NEU support staff members voted overwhelmingly (99.5 per cent) in favour of an above-inflation, fully funded pay rise. However, the decision by the three recognised unions to accept the employers’ final offer means that no action was taken to address the continuing scandal of low pay amongst school support staff.
In discussions with the government over the implementation of the 2024 pay rise for teachers, the NEU won an additional £1.2 billion for schools to fund the teacher pay rise and support staff pay offer.
The NEU has consistently approached the NJC unions with a call to work collaboratively to organise the unorganised and get every support staff member into a union. We are in ongoing discussions to see if we can get an understanding around this. But as there is no progress towards this, a special conference has been called for 28 February in London to consider withdrawing from the 2017 TUC agreement and to begin active recruitment of non-unionised support staff into NEU.