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 claimed 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
John 23 October 2026 The £700 million is not solely for the teacher pay award. In the Government’s own words, it is: “to support (schools) with their overall costs including teacher and support staff pay awards” Given that the non-teaching pay award is for the whole year and not just seven months and was only slightly less than the teacher pay award (3.3% compared to 3.5%) then that will presumably take a significant portion of the £700 million.