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Dear Bridget
Many congratulations on your appointment as Secretary of State for Education.
Yours is the most important job in Government and the National Education Union is looking forward to working with you to achieve the very best outcomes for our children and young people.
After the chaos of recent times, NEU members are hopeful that the change of government and your appointment will usher in a period of stability and seriousness at the Department for Education.
We really welcomed the commitment that you made in Opposition about needing to reset the relationship between Ministers and the profession. This reset will be vital if we are to turn the corner and start recruiting and retaining enough teachers and support staff.
You will, of course, have many issues to deal with, but I want to bring to your attention the urgent matter of the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) Report and its recommendations on teacher pay increases for September 2024.
Despite having received it weeks before the General Election was called, your predecessor as Secretary of State failed to publish the STRB Report. Teachers and school leaders have been left completely in the dark about the STRB’s recommendations and the previous Government’s intentions on the implementation of those recommendations. This was despite your predecessor committing, as part of the resolution of last year’s teacher pay dispute, to align the timing of the STRB process with the school budget cycle.
Your predecessor showed a complete disregard for school leaders who need to know the pay award to plan their budgets for the next academic year.
I am writing to ask that you right the wrong of Gillian Keegan and immediately publish the pay review body report and the Government’s 2024-25 pay and funding offer.
As we are fast approaching the end of the summer term, your publication of the pay offer will assist schools in the planning and consultation on pay implementation that must take place as a matter of urgency.
I look forward to your response and reiterate that we stand ready to work with you in your mission to break down barriers to opportunity.
Yours sincerely
Daniel Kebede
General Secretary