The National Education Union has today launched online indicative ballots asking teacher and support staff members in England if they would be prepared to strike over pay, funding and workload.
The government has proposed a 6.5 per cent pay rise for teachers over three years. This is unlikely to match inflation and does nothing to repair the approximately 20 per cent real terms pay cut that teachers have suffered since 2010.
The pay rise will have to be funded from existing school budgets. This will inevitably lead to more cuts, of which support staff are likely to bear the brunt.
Years of underfunding have seen pay decline and workload soar for support staff also.
On top of this there is a suggestion from government it may eliminate directed time – which is the only contractual protection that teachers have against excessive workloads.
The education profession is running on empty.
This week the government has asked far more of teachers and support staff in its education White Paper and proposed SEND reforms. It must be made to realise, as in opposition, that the education system is chronically underfunded and the goodwill of teachers and support staff has been spent.
The ballots run until 17 April 2026.
Commenting on the launch of an indicative ballot, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“Schools are running on empty. Expecting schools to fund a 6.5 per cent pay increase over three years from existing budgets is simply not possible.
“The Treasury has made itself a laughing stock by claiming there are still efficiencies to be made.
“Chronic underfunding from successive governments has led to the severe crisis in our schools. Old equipment and broken furniture. Battered textbooks. Years of missed targets in recruitment have driven up workload, as have the numbers leaving and not being replaced. A failure to properly fund our schools also means fewer teaching assistants and larger classes.
“Rather than arresting this decline, Labour has chosen Austerity 2.0.
“This government has the brass neck to ask for more out of less. The results of that strategy will be worse for children, not better. It is time to stand up and save education.”
Editor’s Note
Questions for teachers
- Do you reject the proposal of an unfunded 6.5% increase over three years for teacher pay?
- Are you prepared to take industrial action to win sufficient funding to secure an above inflation pay increase, reduce workload and defend existing directed time provisions, including the 1265 hours limit?
Questions for support staff
- Do you agree that the defence of support staff jobs is essential to Save Education?
- Are you prepared to take industrial action to win sufficient funding to secure an above inflation pay increase, reduce workload and prevent redundancies?