Introduction
This letter contains the NEU’s response to the consultation on the 36th School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) Report and the draft 2026 School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD). We place all of the detailed and specific issues in the context of overarching key issues on teacher pay, conditions and funding.
At the time of writing, the NEU Executive was planning to discuss its response to your proposals on funding of 16 September and your willingness to address issues around accountability, workload and wellbeing. This response to the statutory consultation on the STRB report is without prejudice to those discussions.
The NEU is clear that the pay cuts against inflation must be reversed to restore the competitiveness of teacher pay – and that the improvements in pay and conditions needed must be fully funded by the Government as the essential investment our education service desperately needs. The NEU is also calling for a fair and mandatory pay structure with no performance-related pay (PRP). To effectively tackle teacher shortages, there must be fully funded improvements in pay levels and workload alongside reform of the unfair pay structure.
Your predecessor received the STRB report in February but did not publish it until July. This is completely unacceptable and further undermines the credibility of the review body process. The NEU continues to reject the review body process and assert the right of teachers to appropriate collective bargaining arrangements.