Pay bargaining calendar

Pay bargaining toolkit

Guidance and resources for pay bargaining in your workplace to ensure teachers and support staff are fairly paid. 

Foreword

The Government has decided to honour the recommendation of the school teacher review body (STRB) to award a 5.5 per cent pay rise to all teachers and leaders in England. Schools will receive an additional £1.2 billion to fund this pay rise.

Members should be proud of what they have achieved through a hard-fought campaign, but the Government should be in no doubt that we see this pay award as only a first step towards the major pay correction needed. Our campaign to regain all the pay lost in real terms since 2010 remains a priority.

The success of our campaign for pay restoration is dependent on our ability to deliver national strike action. The only way we can do this is through building the NEU at the workplace and you, as an NEU workplace rep, are pivotal to this.

However, pressuring the Government to take seriously the issue of teacher pay is just part of the battle.

Securing the implementation of this year’s national pay awards, and the removal of performance related pay are absolute priorities this term.

These issues and other unfair pay practices are challenges that must be met at the workplace by organised, vigilant NEU workplace groups. Effective workplace groups and the ability to deliver national changes are two sides of the same coin.

This pay bargaining toolkit will provide you and your colleagues with the guidance and resources you need to take a pro-active approach to pay bargaining in your workplace and secure the changes we need to ensure teachers and support staff are fairly paid. This is central to our mission to recruit and retain the best educators for our schools and colleges who will shape the future of education.

Daniel Kebede

General secretary, National Education Union

Model pay letter

Hold an all-member meeting to discuss the implementation of the pay awards and removal of PRP.

Then send this letter to your head
NEU bargaining cycle graphic

Our bargaining strategy

The NEU aspires to be a mass democratic, participatory union based on having an effective workplace presence. Central to this is our bargaining strategy.

Find out more

Bargaining calendar poster: Autumn term: Pay

Poster to advertise a meeting on pay bargaining in your workplace during autumn term to make decisions together and democratically, so as a rep, you are mandated to negotiate changes.

Resources

Pay implementation

The NEU is committed to re-establishing national collective bargaining over teacher pay and securing a national pay structure which applies statutorily to all schools and academies.

Ending performance-related pay

A workload reduction taskforce has recommended that the requirement for maintained schools to adopt performance-related pay (PRP) be removed.

Extra responsibilities linked to the upper pay range

The NEU is aware that many schools, particularly but not exclusively in primary schools, claim that movement onto or within the upper pay range (UPR) is dependent on a teacher undertaking additional responsibilities.

Annual progression on the upper pay range

A key issue for many teachers is that their school has adopted a pay policy stating that progression on the upper pay range (UPR) should only be considered every two years.

Support staff job evaluation

The NEU is deeply concerned that support staff members are regularly working beyond their contracted hours and taking on additional duties beyond their role without pay.

School funding in multi-academy trusts (MATs)

If you work in a multi-academy trust (MAT), understanding how your employer organises its finances and how much it takes from each of its academies to fund ‘central services’ is important.

Model pay letter

A model letter you can use to raise pay implementation and any other pay issues with your head.

Pay model policy

The aim of this model policy on pay is to provide a framework that schools can adopt to ensure teachers are paid fairly and in line with the provisions of the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document.

NEU member pay survey

This survey is designed to help your rep establish what pay issues need to be addressed at your school.

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