2019 pay award for teachers, head teachers and other teachers in leadership positions.

A Department for Education spokesperson said:

“Last summer saw the biggest teacher pay rise in almost 10 years, worth between £800 and £1,366 for classroom teachers and supported by a £508 million government grant. Building on this, the Education Secretary has written to the independent School Teachers’ Review Body to ask its panel to provide its recommendations on teacher pay for the coming year.

“This sets out that a pay increase for teachers of 2%, in line with forecast inflation, will be affordable within schools’ budgets and will be supported by the government’s proposals to fund increases in teachers’ pension employer contributions from September 2019. The core schools budget will be 2.5% higher next year; teacher salaries account for around half of schools’ spending.

“While there is more money going into our schools than ever before, with an additional £1.3 billion into core schools funding by 2019/20, we recognise the budgeting challenges schools face – that’s why an additional £400 million capital funding for schools was announced at the Budget and an additional £350million has been earmarked for High Needs costs across this year and next.”

The average gross pay for a teacher in 2017 was £38,700. The starting salary for a teacher is £23,720 outside of London and £29,664 in inner London. In addition to an annual pay award, many teachers also receive increases from promotions and responsibility allowances. In 2016/17, when there was a 1% pay award, the average change in the pay of a teacher in employment from the previous year was 4.6%.

Last year, the government announced the biggest pay rise in almost 10 years for around one million public sector workers across Britain – the result of the government’s balanced approach to the economy, reducing debt while investing in public services.

The Department provided a £508m teachers’ pay grant in July 2018 to provide a pay increase of 3.5% for classroom teachers on the main pay range.

Schools funding is being maintained in real terms per pupil between 2017-18 and 2019-20.

The STRB evidence sets out that, on the basis of this commitment and current cost pressures, the overall funding available to schools in 2019/20 can support up to a 2 per cent increase in teachers’ pay, in line with forecasted CPI inflation.

In 2016/17, spend on teaching staff accounted for 49% of total school spending.

The STRB will now consider the evidence before providing a report and recommendations in May 2019.

Public sector pay remains competitive: the median full-time wage in the public sector is £31,414, compared to £28,802 in the private sector.