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Pay and funding campaign

Our campaign is for a fully-funded, above inflation pay rise that constitutes a meaningful step towards a long-term correction in pay for teachers and support staff, and effective action on pay for supply and other educators.
 

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NEU preliminary electronic ballot over pay and funding

Our preliminary electronic ballot runs 2-28 March. 

To save education, we must be willing to take action by rejecting any below-inflation pay offer and voting YES to action.

Salaried trainees (employed by your school) and ECTs or NQTs in maintained schools in England or Wales are included in the preliminary online ballot.

We will also be consulting support staff members as soon as we know the National Joint Council (NJC) employers’ pay offer.

How to vote

Our preliminary ballot for teachers in state-funded schools and sixth forms is being conducted online.

Vote yes in England

Why teachers in state-funded schools and sixth form colleges in England are being balloted and the rationale for the NEU executive committee to recommend they vote YES.

Vote yes in Wales

Why teachers in state-funded schools and sixth form colleges in England are being balloted and the rationale for the NEU executive committee to recommend they vote YES.

Support staff FAQs

The preliminary ballot will close on 19 April. Cast your vote today to make a stand for your profession, your pupils and your schools.

Online Zoom meeting

We held an online meeting on 29 February about why our campaign is so important and what you can do to help get the vote out in your school or college.

Re-view the members meeting

PayUp24 activist hub

Information and resources for officers and reps in England to support the preliminary ballot.

Workplace reps

In the next few weeks, NEU workplace reps will be organising workplace meetings for NEU members, to update them on the campaign, the preliminary ballot and member consultation. 

If you would like to volunteer to help build the pay ballot or become an NEU rep in your school, visit become an NEU rep

Students / unsalaried trainees / members in independent schools

If you’re a student or an unsalaried trainee, or if you work in an independent school, you won’t be asked to take part in this preliminary ballot but there are lots of other ways to get involved in the pay campaign. 

School funding

In the past few months, our country’s schools have made the news for all the wrong reasons. From concrete ceilings falling in, to record numbers of schools in deficit, and arts education increasingly inaccessible — it’s clear that our schools are struggling to cope, and our students are suffering the consequences. 

70% of all schools in England have less funding in real terms than in 2010. That means that because of Government cuts, they cannot afford the same costs they could fourteen years ago. 

We’re demanding the UK Government fund schools properly — that’s the minimum our children deserve. 

Ask your MP to stop school cuts

 

2023 Pay implementation

Last year, NEU members voted overwhelmingly to accept the pay offer.

NEU members’ strike action forced the Government to improve its 2023-24 pay offer to teachers by 3 per cent, to 6.5 per cent, and commit an extra £900 million to properly fund the teacher pay offer and protect support staff jobs.

The NEU has continued to campaign for a properly funded correction in teacher pay to reverse the real-terms cuts imposed since 2010 and for further improvements in education funding to restore the percentage of GDP devoted to education to at least the 5 per cent OECD average. Read more on how the 2023 pay offer was funded.

Strike action in Northern Ireland

Teacher's pay campaign in Northern Ireland

Since the implementation of the pay-freeze in 2010-11, teachers have lost over 20% of their ‘real-terms’ pay. This has seen the value of the profession devalue as a career choice to the detriment of teachers, pupils, and society alike.

Find out more
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