Fund fair pay - save our schools

Fund fair pay ballot FAQ

Why is the National Education Union balloting members?

It’s 2025 – a new year, with a new government. But we’re facing the same old problems.

Lack of funding, not enough teachers coming into the profession and too many experienced educators leaving. And it’s our children who lose out.

To make matters worse, before Christmas the government announced it has recommended an unfunded, 2.8 per cent pay rise for teachers in September 2025.

In the first week of January, your executive committee met to consider our response and agreed to run a preliminary online ballot between 1 March and 11 April.

The unfunded 2.8 per cent is just not good enough. It doesn’t correct teachers’ real terms loss in pay. And without guaranteed funding for the rise, the vast majority of schools will face impossible choices – cut staff, cut resources, or both.

That’s why the National Education Union (NEU) executive has taken the really difficult decision to hold a preliminary electronic ballot, asking members if they would be prepared to strike over pay and funding. 

We know most educators want to give Labour a chance to repair 14 years of damage inflicted on our schools by the previous Tory government. But we also know our schools are at breaking point.

So we need to send a clear message to ministers: Do the right thing and fund a fair, significantly above-inflation pay rise for all educators. Invest in our children.

What is a preliminary online ballot?

NEU Rule 10.1 stipulates that authorisation of a formal (postal) ballot for industrial action must follow “an indicative survey of members showing that such a ballot is likely to be successful and meet the legislative requirements.”

The purpose of a preliminary ballot is to determine the likelihood of success for a formal statutory postal ballot. Additionally, a successful preliminary ballot will put pressure on the government to grant teachers a fully funded, significantly above-inflation pay rise.

The preliminary ballot will ask members whether they are prepared to take strike action for additional funding to secure a fully funded, significantly above-inflation pay rise that constitutes a meaningful step towards a long-term correction in pay, and further funding to improve the levels of staffing in schools. 

What questions will the preliminary online ballot ask?

Our preliminary electronic ballot will ask teachers and leaders in state-funded schools in England the following two questions:

  • Do you accept or reject the government’s recommendation of an unfunded 2.8 per cent pay rise? 
  • Are you willing to take strike action to secure a fully funded, significantly higher pay award that takes steps to address the crisis in recruitment and retention  

Your national executive recommends that you vote REJECT to the first question and YES to the second question.

How do I vote in the preliminary online ballot?

On Saturday, 1 March you will receive an email and text message containing your unique voting link. You can check that we hold the correct email address and mobile phone number at myNEU.

Vote as soon as you receive the voting link and vote YES to holding a strike ballot to secure a fully funded, significantly higher pay award that takes steps to address the crisis in recruitment and retention.

If you have a problem with your voting link, can’t find it or have accidentally deleted it, please email [email protected]

When does the preliminary online ballot open and close?

The teachers’ preliminary online ballot will run from Saturday, 1 March to Friday, 11 April.

What happens next after the preliminary online ballot closes?

Assuming the preliminary electronic ballot meets our goal of more than 60 per cent turnout and more than 90 per cent yes vote, the NEU executive will table an emergency motion for annual conference to confirm the timetable for a formal postal ballot in the summer term.

The formal ballot would run for at least ten weeks, opening as early as possible after Easter.

This formal statutory postal ballot will need to be undertaken before we take strike action.

Under the law, trade unions are required to get a 50 per cent turnout of all members eligible to vote. Within certain ‘important’ parts of the public sector, including education, you need to also get a 40 per cent YES vote of all those eligible to vote in order to take legal action.

I have not received my preliminary online ballot link – how do I get one?

If you have not received your preliminary online ballot link by Monday, 4 March, you will need to contact [email protected] to be sent a replacement link.

Who is eligible to vote in the ballot?

Teachers and leaders employed in state-funded schools in England are eligible to vote in the ballot.

Why aren’t teachers and leaders in Wales included in the ballot?

Teachers’ pay in Wales is determined by the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body (IWPRB) and pay discussions operate on a different timetable to that of the STRB.  The executive will keep matters under review when the IWPRB reports.

What about support staff?

Support staff pay is determined by the National Joint Council (NJC) and their pay negotiations operate on a different timetable than the School Teachers’ Pay Body.  NJC employers have yet to make any offer to NJC recognised unions (UNISON, GMB and UNITE) regarding pay for support staff, so we are not including them in our ballot. We do not believe it would be fair to call support staff members out on strike (sacrificing a day’s pay) without any prospect of that action securing a decent pay award for our support staff members themselves. 

The executive will keep this decision under review. We will continue to reach out to collaborate with the NJC recognised unions around their 2025 pay negotiations.  When NJC unions consult their members, we will consult our support staff too.

In the meantime, beyond pay, we will continue to assist NEU union groups to bargain for support staff – alongside teacher colleagues wherever possible – for instance to resist proposed school closures and redundancies.

I am a supply member, can I vote?

This ballot is for teacher members directly employed by a school or workplace only, as it is the result of the decision by government on what teacher pay will be for September 2025.

Supply teacher members who are not directly employed by a school or workplace cannot be called to take strike action, as their employer is an agency or other third party.

If you are directly employed as a teacher by a school in England, you are eligible to vote and need to ensure your details are up-to-date to reflect that via My NEU.

I am a centrally employed teacher, can I vote?

Yes, you are included in the preliminary ballot. If, by Monday, 4 March, you have not received your voting link please email [email protected]

I am employed on Soulbury terms, can I vote?

No, Soulbury pay is negotiated separately. For the latest details about our Soulbury negotiations, including on pay, please click here.

I work in an FE college, can I vote?

No, pay is negotiated separately for staff working in FE colleges.

For the latest details on negotiations in FE colleges, including on pay, please click here.

I work in an independent school, can I vote?

Members working in independent schools are not part of this dispute, therefore the union is not balloting members in the independent sector.

I am currently on maternity leave. Will I get a vote?

You will get a vote in the preliminary online ballot, however if you will be on maternity leave when the union is likely to take the first day of action, you will not be included in the formal ballot. This is because we can only ballot those members who we can reasonably expect to call to take strike action.

When would we take strike action?

The earliest day of strike action will be towards the end of the summer term.

If we take strike action, will I receive strike pay?

No, in the event of strike action being called we will not be paying strike pay, so you will receive a deduction of salary for any days we are on strike. The loss in salary is, however, far less than you have lost since 2010 due to the pay freeze and this year’s anticipated below inflation pay offer.

Will there be a hardship fund?                                                                              

In the event of strike action being called, local districts will set up local industrial action hardship funds. Grants may be made from the Industrial Action Hardship Fund to any member of the district who has suffered or is considered likely to suffer adverse financial consequences as a result of their participation in industrial action with no strike pay, which is significantly greater than that faced by the generality of members.

What impact will strike action have on my teachers’ pension?

Very little – any loss would probably be between £1 and £2.50 a year at most for each day of action taken. All serving teachers are now building up their pension in the career average scheme. Your pension is 1/57 of whatever is earned during each scheme year (from 1 April to 31 March), which is then indexed until retirement. So, you simply lose the pension you would build up for each day you take strike action.

For example, if your pensionable salary is £36,000, each day of strike action will reduce your pension by just £1.73 a year – and varies in proportion to earnings.

I'm in my last years of teaching before retiring – if I strike, will there be any extra effect on my pension?

Although all members are now in the career average pension scheme, taking strike action can affect final salary pension. In the final salary scheme, your pension is based on the higher of your total pay received over the last 365 days of service, or the best three consecutive years in the last ten years re-valued in line with inflation.

When you go on strike, a strike day is simply disregarded, and these calculations are worked out by going back one day further. For teachers who are within ten years of retirement, going on strike only triggers a further loss if the strike day would have been used to calculate the pension. Even if this is the case, the additional loss will be negligible in the vast majority of cases. As a result, NEU guidance is that members close to retirement should take strike action.

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