Pay campaign

We will be campaigning to win in full increases recommended by the STRB in 2019 for all teachers and for fair pay for all education staff.

While a 2.75% pay rise for teachers is inadequate after their 15% drop in real terms pay since 2010, the Government must announce that they will fully fund the pay rise, if they are at all concerned about teacher recruitment and retention or the pressures on school budgets. If the pay rise isn’t funded in full this will mean more cuts to our children’s education. 

We will be supporting members to ensure that you and your colleagues do actually receive this increase and any pay progression to which you are entitled. 

For September 2019 , we want a fully funded pay increase of 5 per cent for all teachers and school leaders. 

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  • NEU members talk about pay

    The Government’s inaction on teacher pay has led a recruitment and retention crisis, worsening each year as pupil numbers increase. Since 2010, classroom teacher salaries have fallen by 15% in real terms. A third of qualified teachers quit within the first five years. Hear what NEU members have to say about pay.

 STRB 2019 submission

The NEU, ASCL, NAHT and Voice have sent a joint response to the Secretary of State’s consultation on the STRB report on teacher pay in England.  The joint union response calls on the Secretary of State to set aside his predecessor’s recommended 2.75% pay increase for teachers from September in favour of a fully-funded 5% increase.  Such an increase should be the start of a programme to urgently restore the value of teacher pay following the real-terms cuts against inflation since 2010. 

Earlier this year, our STRB submission 2019 and and supplementary submission set out the NEU’s evidence to the STRB.  The joint union statement and supplementary evidence  to the STRB underlined the consensus on the need for effective action on pay, fully funded by the Government, to tackle the wide and deep teacher supply problems.

The NEU pay survey of 2018 demonstrates once more that recent changes to the school teachers’ pay system mean that teachers cannot now rely on an annual cost-of-living pay increase, even where funding is provided by Government for the purpose, and that pay progression remains at best uncertain, with certain groups being particularly likely to face unfair treatment and even unlawful discrimination.

We need to keep the pressure on the Government to take the urgent action needed to restore the value of teacher pay.  The Government must fully fund the improvements in pay needed to reward teachers for the vital job they do and to tackle the serious teacher recruitment and retention problems. 

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