Council bosses agree new teacher pay offer

As reported by the BBC, council leaders have agreed on a new pay offer for teachers with extra cash from the Scottish government

The new offer involves a six per cent pay rise in the current year and a further 5.5% in the new financial year, which starts in April. Employers – represented by the local government body Cosla – have presented their offer as an 11.5% rise over two years.

The government said it would mean an overall increase of more than £5,000 over two years for the 70% of classroom teachers who are at the top of their main grade pay scale.

It is not clear if this package would be enough to end the dispute, with a series of further strikes – including some targeting the constituencies of senior ministers – already scheduled as the Scottish government has previously said it had no more money and would have to raid other budgets to pay for an increased offer.

Their £156m for teachers is part of a pot of around £300m which would also enable councils to offer their other staff a 5.5% pay rise in 2023/24. The previous pay offer, made in November, was worth between five per cent and 6.85% for most staff.

EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said the union was still awaiting written notification of a revised offer. She said: “It is unacceptable that details of a revised offer have been shared with the media before the offer has been made to teaching unions.

“Once we eventually receive the offer, it will then be for the EIS salaries committee to discuss the terms of that offer and to adopt a position in relation to it.”

Education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said the offer “would see teacher pay increase by almost 30% since January 2018”.

Ms Somerville said she had written to the unions asking them to suspend planned industrial action while their members consider the new offer.

She said: “While union demands for an in-year 10% increase are unaffordable within the Scottish government’s fixed budget, we have looked for compromise and we have arrived at a deal that is fair, affordable, and sustainable for everyone involved.

“The Scottish government is supporting this new offer with additional funding of £156m.

“This is on top of the £50m that we have already provided to local authorities in support of an enhanced pay offer for teachers.

“The offer is being made at a time of extraordinary financial pressure on the Scottish government budget.”