The ballot will open on Monday 15 May 2023 and close on Friday 28 July 2023.
Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said;
‘This action should be entirely unnecessary. Despite both the Governments in Wales and Scotland reaching a settlement, Gillian Keegan has wilfully washed her hands of anything to do with the dispute for a fully funded pay rise for teachers in England.
‘The entire teaching profession has rejected the previous offer, one which would give teachers in England lower pay than either Wales or Scotland. Such is the anger amongst members that she now faces the situation of all education unions taking a united stand against Government with all considering or having announced they will ballot members.
‘The Secretary of State who remains, by some distance, the biggest obstacle to getting a sensible resolution, needs to address this issue head on and come to the negotiating table with all the education unions. This wilful lack of engagement will be something that parents and teachers will not forget’.
FULL TEXT OF LETTER
28 April 2023
Dear Secretary of State
State-funded schools: formal trade dispute – funding and level of teachers’ pay award 2022 and 2023
We are writing to you further to our letter of 19 April 2023.
You have not responded to our letter and you have not provided the undertakings we sought in order to avoid proceeding to a re-ballot of teacher members in England for industrial action.
As a result, we are now writing to employers informing them that the NEU intends to hold a ballot of teacher members in state-funded schools in England.
The ballot will open on Monday 15 May 2023and close on Friday 28 July 2023. We will inform you of the outcome of the ballot and next steps to be taken by the NEU.
The NEU is in a formal trade dispute with the Secretary of State for Education due to a failure to give the undertaking sought by the NEU to provide a fully funded above-inflation pay rise for the September 2022 and September 2023 teachers’ pay awards (as measured by September 2022 RPI and the Office for Budget Responsibility Q3 RPI forecast of March 2023).A fully funded pay rise is one that is funded by additional resources sufficient to provide the above-inflation pay rise.
Section 16 Education Act 2002 gives you a power to impose terms on financial assistance given under Section 14 of the Act. This power would assist you with ensuring that the necessary pay rises are fully funded and implemented by all schools.
The NEU will notify all employers of our intention to ballot our members in accordance with the relevant statutory requirements.
We reiterate that we remain ready to negotiate with you and your officials at any reasonable time to resolve this dispute.