Deltapoll interviewed a representative sample of 4,131 NEU Members, online, between 3 - 8th June 2026. The figures have been weighted to be representative of all NEU members.
- 95 per cent of NEU members polled said their school would have difficulty affording the pay increases in September without extra cash.
- 69 per cent of teacher members polled find the rumoured one-year pay deal of around 3.5 per cent unacceptable.
- Over two-thirds (70 per cent) have recently considered leaving the profession.
Amid the political turmoil in Westminster, the union is calling on education secretary Bridget Phillipson not to abdicate her responsibilities. She must urgently publish the report of the School Teachers' Review Body (STRB) and the government's proposals on teacher pay.
In her remit letter to the STRB earlier this year, Phillipson suggested no extra money would be made available and that heads should look for “efficiencies” in their budgets to afford pay rises. School leaders, teachers, support staff and parents all understood the meaning: more cuts.
But there is nothing left to cut. A recent analysis by the School Cuts campaign shows that 74 per cent of schools have less funding in real terms than in 2010. In this climate of austerity, the NEU is calling for pay rises to be fully funded by government.
Despite promising a reset with the profession, the same bad old habits of past governments have persisted. The publication and response to the report is now significantly late - the Secretary of State has been sitting on the STRB report since at least 25 February. That is a staggering and wholly unnecessary 120 days.
| It is rumoured that the Department for Education is planning to offer teachers in England a 3.5 per cent pay rise for September 2026. Do you think a 3.5 per cent pay rise for teachers would be... | |
| Very acceptable | 3% |
| Quite acceptable | 16% |
| Neither acceptable nor unacceptable | 9% |
| Quite unacceptable | 28% |
| Very unacceptable | 42% |
| Don’t know | 2% |
There was little neutrality on the matter of pay, with 42 per cent of teachers telling Deltapoll that the purported pay rise would be “very unacceptable” even without the further context of it being unfunded. An additional 28 per cent found it “quite unacceptable”, adding up to 69 per cent net negativity. Just 19 per cent found it acceptable.
Next, Deltapoll asked members to consider the rumoured 3.5 per cent for teachers for September 2026 and the employer body offer of 3.3 per cent to support staff that will also come in and be backdated to April. The question highlighted there would be no increase to school budgets, and that “efficiencies” would have to be found in existing funds.
| How easy or difficult to you think it will be for your school to increase teacher and support staff pay without additional funding from the government? | |
| Very easy | 0% |
| Fairly easy | 1% |
| Neither easy nor difficult | 2% |
| Fairly difficult | 9% |
| Very difficult | 86% |
| Don’t know | 2% |
These findings are stark, with just over 1 per cent believing it to be achievable to make savings in order to cover the pay rises. An overwhelming 95 per cent believed the reverse to be the case, with 86 per cent firmly of the view it would be “very difficult”. Amongst senior leadership team respondents - who are traditionally much closer to the detail of school budgets - 94 per cent believed it would be “very difficult”, and an additional 5 per cent said it would be “fairly difficult”.
Asked to select the three most important issues in education that need addressing by the Labour government, members chose as their top three: the amount of school funding (60 per cent), SEND provision (41 per cent) and workload (40 per cent).
The government continues to fall short of its manifesto commitment of finding 6,500 new teachers. In fact, it is proving far more effective at losing teachers, with real-terms pay cuts and the highest workload in Europe being key drivers. Deltapoll asked members where they personally sat within the ongoing recruitment and retention crisis.
| Are you considering leaving the education profession, or have you recently considered it, or not? | |
| Yes, I am considering leaving or I have decided to leave | 11% |
| I am thinking about leaving but have not yet made a decision | 35% |
| I recently considered leaving but decided against it | 24% |
| No, I have not considered leaving | 27% |
| Don’t know | 3% |
In net terms, 70 per cent are either thinking about or have recently thought about leaving the profession.
The same poll found that Bridget Phillipson and the current government are deeply unpopular with NEU members: 72 per cent of members believed Labour has performed badly on education, while 74 per cent believed Bridget Phillipson is doing a bad job as education secretary.
Commenting on the findings, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
"The NEU has been sounding the alarm on school funding for some time, and these results are the latest evidence that budgets are at breaking point. All educators deserve to be fairly paid for the important work they do. Head teachers should not be put in the impossible position of having to make cuts to children's education to afford pay rises.
"It is deeply insulting to those heads working hard to balance the books that the STRB report and the government's response still have not been published - almost four months since the report landed on Bridget Phillipson's desk. The government and Labour Party may be in turmoil, but head teachers still need to plan for September.
"Our poll shows high numbers of teachers continue to consider leaving the profession. Fully funded, above-inflation pay rises and proper increases to school funding are vitally needed to stem this tide."