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Understanding pay progression

This guide gives advice on how the pay progression system for classroom teachers works.

The requirement for maintained schools in England to operate PRP has been removed.  Academies already had this freedom.  We want to ensure that all pay progression is automatic and annual, see the advice on ending PRP

The advice below relates to the position in England. Members in Wales, where PRP has been fully removed, teachers should receive pay progression based on experience and should refer to the separate teacher pay arrangements in Wales.

Teachers’ pay and the STPCD

The statutory provisions governing pay progression for teachers in local authority maintained schools are set out in the School Teachers’ Pay & Conditions Document (STPCD). Most academies follow the STPCD provisions or similar provisions.

Every school must have a written pay policy setting out arrangements for pay progression, including whether or not the school has retained PRP.  The NEU’s view is that all pay progression should be automatic and annual.

The DfE also publishes pay advice “Managing Teachers’ and Leaders’ Pay” which is “non-statutory” advice to which governing bodies are expected to have regard but are not statutorily required to follow.

NEU advice on procedures for pay progression decisions

Responsibility for decisions on pay progression

Governing bodies are permitted to delegate pay decisions to a governing body committee, individual governors or the head teacher. The NEU advises that decisions should be taken by the governing body committee responsible for pay/staffing issues and reported to the full governing body. Decisions should not be delegated to the headteacher alone.

References to “the governing body” in this document should be read as including any governing body committee taking pay decisions.

Timetable for taking decisions and notifying teachers of decisions

The STPCD requires every governing body to carry out an annual pay determination for every teacher, including every post-threshold teacher and school leader with effect from 1 September.

The governing body is required to notify teachers of the outcome of pay decisions in writing at the earliest opportunity and no more than one month after the decision is taken. Any consequent pay increase is effective from the previous 1 September (para 3.1 a).

The STPCD does not contain any statutory deadline for taking pay decisions, and the DfE’s pay advice no longer states that decisions should be made “as quickly as is reasonably possible”. However, many schools have retained the former statutory deadlines of 31 October for classroom teachers and 31 December for leadership teachers.

The NEU advises that all schools should take decisions by these dates or as soon as practicable thereafter.

Statutory provisions on pay progression

The governing body should set out in the school pay policy the precise criteria and standards that will be used to determine decisions on pay progression.

Paragraph 19.2 of the STPCD states that the school must decide how pay progression will be determined, subject to the following requirements.

  1. a written pay recommendation is required for every teacher and the school must have regard to this recommendation;
  2. pay progression must be awarded, subject to the following exceptions:
    1. any school that chooses to retain PRP, as set out in its pay policy, may decide to withhold progression for reasons related to poor performance
    2. any school that chooses not to retain PRP, as set out in its pay policy, may decide to withhold progression if a teacher is in capability proceedings
  3. in the case of early career teachers (ECTs), the relevant body must determine the teacher’s performance and any pay recommendation by means of the statutory induction process set out in the Education (Induction Arrangements for School Teachers) (England) Regulations 2012. The relevant body must also ensure that ECTs are not negatively affected by the extension of the induction period from one to two years. This change does not prevent a school from awarding pay progression to ECTs at the end of the first year.
  4. Any relevant body that chooses to retain performance related pay as set out in their pay policy, may only withhold progression for reasons related to poor performance. For all other schools, progression may only be withheld if a teacher is in capability proceedings.

The NEU’s view is that all pay progression should be automatic and annual, please contact your NEU rep if you are denied progression.  If there isn’t an NEU rep in your school, please contact the relevant regional office.

Paragraph 19.3 requires the governing body to set out clearly in the school’s pay policy how pay progression will be determined.

School criteria for pay progression are therefore subject only to the requirements in paragraph 19.2 set out above. No statutory national criteria or guidance exist for reference. This makes it harder to argue that pay progression criteria are being incorrectly applied, or that they are incompatible with the STPCD, excessive or otherwise inappropriate.

Criteria must, however, be fair, transparent and objective in order to meet the standards proposed by the DfE’s non-statutory pay advice that pay decisions must be “objectively justified”.

Criteria which do not meet these requirements should be challenged through collective challenge or pay appeals. Equally obviously, any unfair or inappropriate interpretation of criteria should be challenged as well.

Applications and further evidence

The STPCD requires governing bodies to undertake annual pay determinations for all teachers. Pay progression is not an application process. Teachers cannot be required to “apply” or complete any application form since the governing body must undertake pay determinations whether or not teachers have complied with any requirements set by the school. 

Moreover, the DfE’s non-statutory pay advice states that schools should “use evidence proportionately” and “eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy” when making decisions on pay. 

Appeals

The STPCD requires schools to have an appeals procedure in relation to pay decisions (para 2.1(b)). The DfE’s pay advice includes a recommended appeals procedure which is endorsed by the NEU and also by NAHT and ASCL. It includes the above provisions allowing teachers to make objections to pay recommendations before pay decisions are made; and also provides for a formal appeals hearing at which the teacher can appear in person, represented if they wish by a union representative.

All the above points apply to leadership group teachers, i.e. no applications; progression based on appraisal outcomes; and the ‘no surprises principle’.

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