As part of our pay dispute settlement in 2023, the Government established a workload reduction taskforce. It has recommended that the requirement for maintained schools to adopt performance-related pay (PRP) be removed.
This is a significant win, and we are pleased that the new Labour Government has honoured this commitment, however, removing the requirement for schools to use PRP will not automatically end it. Academy trusts, which are not statutorily required to follow the school teachers pay and conditions document (STPCD), are already free to abandon PRP, however most academy trusts have not done so.
We should also note that the recommended changes on PRP were not due to its inherent discriminatory nature, nor its undermining of teacher professionalism, but due to the ‘administrative and workload burden’ it created. Why should Performance Related Pay be abolished? contains arguments that can help you to negotiate the abolition of PRP in your workplace.
Further, while the link between appraisal and pay remains under performance management policies, there will be an element of PRP that remains – particularly in order to access the upper pay range (UPR). The NEU believes that all pay progression including onto and on the UPR should be automatic and annual.
Local authority schools
A model pay policy should be negotiated with the Local Authority (LA) by your NEU branch.
However, school governing bodies are ultimately responsible for determining pay policies. Therefore, consultation and negotiation over the pay policy should take place at a workplace level through NEU workplace reps.
Your NEU branch will notify you when they have negotiated a model pay policy which removes PRP.
Once received, it will be down to you and your members to negotiate its implementation.
LA schools are still obliged to retain a threshold application process. However, adoption of a pay policy that meets the criteria of the NEU pay policy checklist will ensure this process is a formality and not onerous.
Academies
Pay policy negotiations for academies take place at a trust level and are conducted by an NEU officer or lead rep. Unlike LA maintained schools, academies belonging to a multi-academy trust are obliged to adopt the pay policy agreed at a trust level.
Your NEU branch will notify you when they have negotiated a model pay policy for your Local Authority, which removes PRP. Your trust is under no obligation to adopt the LA policy, however if your trust academy has not removed PRP, its removal at neighbouring LA schools will help you make the case to members and management.
You and your members can take strike action at your school with a view to securing improvements to your trust’s pay policy, however, to maximise effectiveness, you should contact the NEU officer or lead rep who negotiates with your trust to inform them of your intention to take action and seek to network with other reps in your trust with a view to coordinating action.
Unlike LA schools, academies can remove the threshold application, essentially removing PRP in its entirety, so even if your trust has removed PRP, there may still be room for improvement.
Actions for reps
As pay is devolved to schools and academy trusts, NEU members need to work together to ensure the removal of PRP.
Follow the bargaining cycle to secure the removal of PRP at your school.
You should raise PRP at the start of the autumn term as it’s important that members and management see the removal of PRP as the outcome of our collective national campaign for fair pay.
