SUBSTANTIAL MULTI-YEAR PAY AWARD NEEDED FOR TEACHERS

A substantial multi-year pay award for all teachers and school leaders in England is desperately needed in order to secure educational recovery and address the growing cost of living crisis.

The NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union has today submitted detailed evidence on the 2022/23 pay award to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), which makes recommendations on teachers’ pay to the Secretary of State for Education.

The evidence sets out the case for pay award restoration commencing September 2022, highlighting that due to successive years of pay freezes and below inflation pay awards, teachers have now suffered a 19% real-terms erosion in their pay since 2020. A multi-year pay award, starting with a 12% award from 2022 is being sought by the Union.

Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary, said:

“Teachers are looking to the Review Body to assert its independence from Government and act on the overwhelming evidence of the adverse impact which over a decade of real terms pay erosion is having on the recruitment and retention of teachers and on the ability to maintain world-class standards of education provision.

“Uncompetitive pay levels are contributing to a worsening picture on teacher supply.

“The Government has continuously failed to meet its own targets on ITT recruitment; there is a growing crisis of leadership succession and increasing numbers of teachers leaving the profession. Data shows that by 2020, over 40% of those who had entered the teaching profession ten years previously were no longer teaching.

“Our 2022 teachers’ pay survey indicates that 70% of teachers have considered leaving their job in the last 12 months and that 49% of teachers indicated that their pay had a great deal or a lot of impact on their intention to leave the profession.

“Adding to the pressure on teachers is the soaring cost of living, which is driving more and more teachers into financial hardship. Our survey shows that two thirds of teachers are ‘somewhat worried’ about their financial situation and 22% are ‘very worried’.

“Over half of teachers reported having to cut back their expenditure on food during 2021, with some having to resort to using food banks or other forms of charitable assistance. Four in ten reported having to cut back their expenditure on essential household items and 12% have taken a second job.

“We believe that the current challenges facing the profession are so significant that the Government must look more broadly at remuneration and implement structural reform of the teachers’ pay framework in order to ensure it is fit for purpose in recruiting, retaining and adequately rewarding current and future cohorts of teachers.

“This must involve returning the entitlement to national pay scales to teachers, including those undertaking supply work.

“It is now time for STRB and government to deliver a pay award for teachers which restores competitiveness to the profession and which reflects the critical nature of the work teachers do to help build our society and foster economic prosperity for decades to come.”