Pay award for teachers

Following the government’s announcement on public sector pay, the Department for Education (DfE) have confirmed that teachers and school leaders will receive a 6.5% uplift across all pay scales, with the exception of those at the bottom of the pay scale who will receive a larger rise to bring starting salaries to £30,000.

The pay award for teachers will be from 1 September 2023, but it will be backdated. It does not apply in further education or early years settings. Schools will be expected to fund 3.5 per cent from their own budgets, with the remaining 3 per cent provided as a DfE grant generated by non ‘frontline’ cuts to the DfE’s budget.

The offer has the backing of the education unions, who will put the deal to their members, with a recommendation that they accept, however members of the unions could still vote to reject the offer.

The DfE will provide schools with an additional £525 million in the 2023-24 financial year and £900 million in the 2024-25 financial year, with the expectation that all schools will use these additional funds for teacher pay. The grant will be allocated on the basis of the number of pupils in a school, with different per-pupil rates depending on age and other characteristics.

The government has also announced it is setting up a £40 million ‘hardship fund’ to help schools that cannot afford the pay increase.