The new teacher pay scales for 2026-27 have been confirmed by the Department for Education. It comes after the government accepted the recommendation from the School Teachers’ Review Body of a 3.5 per cent rise. Ministers have pledged to hand schools additional funding of £700 million to cover September 2026 to March 2027 towards the cost of the rise, rising to £1.1 billion for the full 2027-28 financial year. Schools will also contribute the first 1 per cent from their own budgets. The DfE has said this will be affordable on a national level, following a reduction in employer contributions to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), though affordability at school level is likely to vary. Local authority-maintained schools must follow these pay scales but academies and free schools are allowed to set their own. Pay scales for teachers Pay scales for school leaders