End of term pay rise chalked up for teachers

Classroom teachers are to receive rises in their pay of up to 3.5 per cent, following recommendations by the School Teachers’ Review Body.

This equates to a pay rise of between £800 and £1,366 for classroom teachers on the main pay range, 2% for those on the upper pay range and 1.5% for those in leadership positions.

Schools will continue to determine how their staff are paid, but the increases will be funded by government with a new teachers’ pay grant from the existing Department for Education budget and paid to all schools on top of their core budgets from the National Funding Formula.

In cash terms, teachers could receive a boost of between £1,184 and £1,366 to their salary, while salaries for new teachers will increase by between £802 and £1003.

The average gross pay for a teacher in 2017 was £38,700. The starting salary for a teacher is £22,917 outside of London and £28,660 in inner London. In addition to an annual pay award, many teachers also receive increases from promotions and responsibility allowances.

The increase in pay is higher than anticipated, with most trusts budgeting for 2% as advised by the Association of School and College Leaders.

The rise will be funded to some extent by the government, but budgets that have been prepared will need to be revised to understand the impact, and if it is significant the trust should consider informing the ESFA.

We would expect revised budgets to show a positive movement as many predicted a 2% increase but with no funding, so most trusts should benefit.

It is also worth noting that the new funding is not new Treasury money but from within the existing DFE budget. This may mean that some school funding is simply renamed, i.e. a reduction in capital funding and released as staff funding.

Accordingly, there is still a great deal of uncertainty over future funding.