Minister squandering promise to negotiate on teachers’ pay dispute

Ahead of the Spring Budget, the NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union is calling on the Education Secretary to engage urgently in the negotiations she has promised to resolve the teachers’ pay dispute

The Union has outlined to Ministers a number of proposals that could provide a basis for dispute resolution, including additional measures to offset the additional cost of living pressures on teachers in 2022/23-including backdating of the 2023/24 pay award to an agreed date prior to September 2023, immediate negotiations on the teachers’ pay award for 2023/24, new measures to tackle the teacher workload crisis-including establishing a contractual limit on teachers’ working time, abandoning performance related pay appraisals, and introducing a requirement for all employers to implement the recommendations set out in the DfE’s Making Data Work report and Workload Reduction Toolkit and additional funding for sixth form colleges.

Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: “If we are to believe the secretary of state, the prime minister and the chancellor are committed to seeing proper negotiations taking place on teachers’ pay. The education secretary is also on record saying that her evidence to the Pay Review Body is a starting point for negotiations. So, why are we still waiting?

“No progress is going to be made unless and until ministers are willing to sit in the same room with us to discuss and agree a way forward.

“We still have not received any proposals from the government on which to consult and our members’ patience is being tested to the limit.

“Ministerial promises mean nothing unless they are delivered.

“There is a real and growing risk that progress could be made in resolving other disputes whilst teachers lose out on any new spending commitments from the government ahead of next week’s Spring Budget.

“We have been clear that we are ready and willing to negotiate at any time, any place, anywhere.

“Ministers now need to demonstrate urgency and show that they are also ready to resolve this dispute.

“We appeal to the education secretary to demonstrate that she is serious about resolving the current dispute by getting around the table for the good of pupils and their teachers.”