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Teachers to get 3.1% pay rise, chancellor confirms

Teachers will get a 3.1 per cent pay rise, it has been announced today.

The rise is mostly expected – it’s similar to the recommendations made by government to the independent school pay body in January.

The government proposed an overall 3 per cent rise that would provide increases for every teacher. However it was weighted towards new starters who would get a 6.7 per cent rise, with a 2.5 per cent raise for experienced teachers and heads.

Details of today’s announcement have not yet been published, but it’s expected the cash to pay for rises will come from school’s budgets.

The government said in its recommendations to the School Teachers’ Review Body in January that rises are “affordable for schools” because of its plans to invest more money into the education system, including £2.6 billion in 2020-21.

The Department for Education added a 3 per cent pay increase would cost schools £455 million (across the seven months of the 2020-21 financial year affected by the 2020 pay award).

While this is classed was the “biggest sustained uplift in teacher pay since 2005”, it would take a big chunk out of the government’s promised additional £2.6 billion funding for next year.

As £780m of this is for SEND funding, and now with another £455 million swallowed up by teacher pay rises – it means around £1.4 billion is left.

The STRB was also asked to advise the government on how a new “flatter” pay progression model might work and whether separate main and upper pay ranges are still needed.

Teachers are among almost 900,000 public sector workers set to get above-inflation pay rises, it was reported today.

However the money for rises will come from existing departmental budgets.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “These past months have underlined what we always knew, that our public sector workers make a vital contribution to our country and that we can rely on them when we need them.

“It’s right, therefore, that we follow the recommendations of the independent pay bodies with this set of real-terms pay rises.”

But the Labour said the rise would not make up for years of real-terms cuts.

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13 Comments

  1. Janet Downs

    It appears the much-trumpeted extra money for schools will be taken away by expecting pay for teachers (and the corresponding NI and pension contributions) to be paid for out of budgets.
    Of course, academies can set their own pay and conditions and don’t have to employ qualified teachers. Cue unqualified staff supervising IT-dependent ‘teaching’.

    • Glenn

      I think it is a Disgrace that Teachers are getting a pay raise. They have never worked in the real world. Shame on the government for giving these part-time worker’s anything

      • Teachers work extremely hard throughout the year, the majority of which work late into the evening and during their holidays- hours which they do not get paid for. Having been someone who works in the education sector and with friends and family members who do, I can assure you that we find that more of our time is dedicated to our jobs than even our own families. To call teachers part time workers is an absolute insult to the profession and to those who work tirelessly to educate those you know!

      • Janet Jarvis

        I am unable to express, obviously, what I think about this appallingly ignorant comment of Glenn’s. How come he can write a comment? Because he learnt how. How did he learn? Real world?? I don’t really think he knows what that is. Support staff are, of course, vital, but I doubt they would be willing to work all through their evenings, often until midnight or further or having a load of work to complete over the “holidays”. Think on and don’t make claims that are woefully uninformed.

        • Janet, your remark on support staff is very insulting. Being a support staff myself i have dedicated my evenings and weekends planning and preparing resources and lessons for my group. In Primary schools Teaching assistants have groups of students who they teach. The rols is very similar to a teacher but at much lower salary and is seen as slavery to be fair!!

  2. Glenn

    I think it is a Disgrace that Teachers are getting a pay raise. They have never worked in the real world. Shame on the government for giving these part-time worker’s anything

  3. Vicky

    Perhaps ‘Glenn’ should have a go at teaching as it’s ‘part-time. Then he will be better able to comment. Furthermore, as teaching is so well paid and ‘part-time’, can Glenn explain the huge shortage of teachers?
    I think Glenn should spend a day or two teaching in the PRU where I work…How about it Glenn?

  4. Firstly Glenn obviously learnt everything he knows from his parents as he knows absolutely nothing about teaching or Education. Don’t take his bait everyone, just another deluded and misinformed keyboard numpty! My annoyance with this and what needs clarifying is why just school teachers? What about the thousands of college/uni teachers and lectures that have been working equally hard during lockdown to ensure the provision is maintained as much as possible?

  5. Anastasia Tempest

    Is it possible for an individual teacher to ask for a pay rise when she wants one? Can all teachers, teachers assistant get a pay rise when they want one or does every teacher, teachers assistant get treated themselves? Anastasia.

  6. Ann-Marie

    Absolutely Glenn, breaks SEEM huge don’t they. I have 5 weeks in a block, we have half terms, Easter Holidays and I have Christmas off school site too!!! How wonderful does that seem. Can I ask however; do you work during your holidays for free too? Do you start at 6am and regularly stay behind whilst on site until 8-9pm or even 10pm (on occasion) even though your paid until 4? Do you fill your weekends with work for fun and for free? Do you never see your own family cause you leave before them and get home after bed time? I really don’t expect you do!!

    If you spend a little more time doing the maths you would discover the hours a teacher works during term time equals (if not is greater than) someone who works, what you would call, normal hours (9-6pm). Oh, and this doesn’t include the free holiday overtime I mentioned earlier!

    Let me inform you as you clearly do not understand the job……we don’t have holidays we have ‘work from home’ opportunities just like many others outside the industry!!! If we didn’t work from home we wouldn’t be able to complete the job/government expectations!! Remember we are not just teachers, our pupils parents work so hard we basically have their parental job too, we have to safeguard every child, the paperwork system is endless and it is certainly not a ‘one way fits all’ Educational method.

    Glenn, I ask – please read a range of job descriptions of a teacher with no additional school responsibilities – then maybe you will kindly reconsider your comments and understand a teachers role a little more!

  7. Can someone explain to me the reasoning behind why people who show an interest in teaching certain subjects, are being offered a £26,000 payment to attend a one year teaching course. If at the end they decide not to proceed, why they not have to repay a penny of this. It is no wonder all and sundry and taking up the offer. This is open to massive abuse. I know one lady who is taking a sabbatical from her normal job to do just this, then after the course is returning to her job. I will be interesting to how many become teachers. My estimate is 10% if they are lucky. Talk about abuse of public money.