One per cent pay rise not guaranteed, teachers warned

Treasury chief secretary Greg Hands said in a letter to pay review bodies that there should be ‘no expectation’ that all workers would receive the rise, despite a government commitment in the Budget last month.

Hands said that the rise would instead be applied in a targeted manner, rather than shared evenly amongst staff.

He said in the letter: “The government expects pay awards to be applied in a targeted manner to support the delivery of public services, and to address recruitment and retention pressures.

“This may mean that some workers could receive more than one per cent while others could receive less; there should not be an expectation that every worker will receive a one per cent award.”

While schools are free to set their own salary levels, the letter has caused concerns for unions, who believe it could encourage schools to not give the 1 per cent rise. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) believes this could be a ‘disaster for recruitment and retention’.

Kevin Courtney, Deputy General Secretary of the NUT, said: “Teachers have already had five years of pay caps and pay freezes, while average earnings elsewhere have gone up by ten per cent. New graduates are getting the message that there are no pay prospects in teaching, which is why they are going elsewhere.

“At a time of teacher shortages, the government needs to make teaching an attractive profession. Ill thought out government reforms and an excessive workload, brought about in a large part through unnecessary accountability measures, are already putting teachers under considerable pressure. If pay falls yet further behind the task of attracting new teachers and keeping those we already have will be an uphill struggle to stay the least.”

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