Teachers’ pay is being outstripped by inflation and private sector pay rises, ATL warns

Teachers’ salaries are being ‘outstripped by inflation and pay rises in the private sector’, which is contributing to recruitment issues is the sector, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) has warned.

The ATL has submitted evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) making the case that a continued one per cent pay cap on teacher’s pay could be damaging to the profession.

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the ATL, has argued that recruitment and retention ‘have got worse’ since the last STRB report, with more teachers leaving the profession last year that in any previous year.

Bousted has cautioned that stagnant pay coupled with unmanageable workload is ‘causing teachers to question whether it is worth remaining in the profession’.

She has called on the Treasury to lift the restraints on teacher’s pay an ‘allow the STRB to set teachers’ pay at a realistic level’, accusing the government of ‘harming children’s life chances’ by ignoring the recruitment and retention crisis and not ensuring that schools are fully funded.