Ballots from 28 February to 17 April 2026
Why is the National Education Union balloting members?
The government is proposing a 6.5 per cent pay rise over three years for teachers. This is likely to be below the rate of inflation and does nothing to redress the average 20 per cent loss in real-terms pay since 2010.
Any award will not be funded but will come from existing school budgets. This will make even more cuts inevitable.
On top of this, the government is also proposing to get rid of the limit of 1,265 hours per year when teachers can be directed to be at work – known as directed time. This will see workload grow even more.
The government’s remit to the School Teacher Pay Review Body (STRB) includes an active encouragement to schools to sack support staff. This will cause untold damage to the learning of our pupils.
Support staff have also suffered years of real-terms pay cuts and a constant increase in workload. Workers covered by the NJC pay scales have seen a real-terms fall in pay of around 26 per cent since 2010. As jobs have been scrapped, the remaining staff are often expected to take up the slack for no extra pay.
Your national executive has called an online indicative ballot to run between 28 February and 17 April, calling for funding for pay rises, to stop workload increasing and to prevent redundancies.
What is an online indicative ballot?
NEU Rule 10.1 stipulates that authorisation of a formal (postal) ballot for industrial action must follow “an indicative survey of members showing that such a ballot is likely to be successful and meet the legislative requirements.”
The purpose of an indicative ballot is to determine the likelihood of success for a formal statutory postal ballot. Additionally, a successful preliminary ballot will put pressure on the government to provide the funding needed to prevent real terms pay cuts, reduce workload and prevent redundancies,
The indicative ballot will ask teacher and support staff members in state-funded schools in England whether they are prepared to take strike action to secure fully funded pay increases, stop workload increasing further and prevent redundancies.
What questions will the online indicative ballot ask?
Question for teachers
- Do you reject the proposal of an unfunded 6.5% increase over three years for teacher pay?
- Are you prepared to take industrial action to win sufficient funding to secure an above inflation pay increase, reduce workload and defend existing directed time provisions, including the 1265 hours limit?
Question for support staff
- Do you agree that the defence of support staff jobs is essential to Save Education?
- Are you prepared to take industrial action to win sufficient funding to secure an above inflation pay increase, reduce workload and prevent redundancies?
The Executive recommends that members vote YES to both questions in both ballots.
Why are there separate ballots for teachers and support staff?
Pay and conditions are determined in different ways for teachers and support staff. There are also some legal considerations which require separate national ballots.
How do I vote in the online indicative ballot?
On Saturday, 28 February, if you are a teacher or support staff member in a state-funded school in England, you will receive an email and text message containing your unique voting link. You can check that we hold the correct email address and mobile phone number for you at myNEU.
Vote as soon as you receive the voting link and vote YES to both questions.
If you have a problem with your voting link, can’t find it or have accidentally deleted it, please email ballotenquiries@neu.org.uk
When does the online indicative ballot open and close?
The online indicative ballot will run from Saturday, 28 February to Friday, 17 April.
I have not received my online indicative ballot link – how do I get one?
If you have not received your preliminary online ballot link by Monday, 9 March, you will need to contact ballotenquiries@neu.org.uk to be sent a replacement link.
Before contacting the union, it is advisable to log into myNEU to check that your details are correct. Only teachers, leaders and support staff in state-funded schools in England will be balloted. If your record shows that you’re a supply teacher or you work in Wales or in an independent school, for instance, you would not be balloted.
Who is eligible to vote in the ballot?
Teachers, leaders and support staff employed in state-funded schools (primary and secondary) in England are eligible to vote in the ballot.
State-funded schools include community schools (local authority maintained), academies and free schools, foundation and voluntary schools, and grammar schools.
I am a supply teacher member, can I vote?
This ballot is for teacher members directly employed by a school or workplace only, as it is the result of the decision by government on what teacher pay will be for September 2026.
Supply teacher members who are not directly employed by a school or workplace cannot be called to take strike action, as their employer is an agency or other third party.
If you are directly employed as a teacher by a school in England, you are eligible to vote and need to ensure your details are up-to-date to reflect that via My NEU.
I am a centrally employed teacher, can I vote?
Yes. If you are a teacher employed directly by a local authority in England, you are included in the online indicative ballot. If, by Monday, 9 March, you have not received your voting link please email ballotenquiries@neu.org.uk
I am employed on Soulbury terms, can I vote?
No, Soulbury pay is negotiated separately. For the latest details about our Soulbury negotiations, including on pay, please click here.
I’m a student/trainee. Will I be balloted?
Trainee members with an employment contract with their school, academy or local authority (for instance, those on teaching degree apprenticeships, or the salaried route of the School Direct programme and Teach First programme) will be balloted. Other student/trainee teachers will not be balloted because they are not employed by a school, academy or local authority.
I’m an ECT. Will I be balloted?
If you’re an ECT in England, working in a state funded school, you will be balloted.
I work in an FE college, can I vote?
No, pay is negotiated separately for staff working in FE colleges.
I work in an independent school, can I vote?
Members working in independent schools are not part of this dispute, therefore the union is not balloting members in the independent sector.
I am currently on maternity leave. Will I get a vote?
You will get a vote in the online indicative ballot.