Commenting on the Office for National Statistics’ rates for March 2026, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
"The rate of inflation has, unsurprisingly, exceeded the target set by government. That is likely to continue in the coming months.
"There will be a serious impact on hard-pressed families in our school communities, who are dealing with stretched food budgets and rising petrol costs. One measure the government could take right now is to apply September's Free School Meals expansion to every child in primary school, and not just those families on Universal Credit. It would provide immediate support, saving up to £500 per year for families. It will also have a lasting positive impact on children and their learning.
"It is increasingly hard for government to defend a proposed pay offer to teachers remaining at 6.5 per cent spread over three years, and 3.3 per cent for support staff from April. All of which is unfunded and must come out of the existing budgets of cash-strapped schools, whose costs are also set to rise further. We call on government to publish the School Teachers’ Review Body's findings at the earliest opportunity and to accept that unfunded pay deals are simply untenable - and that a response to the cost-of-living crisis is urgently required."