As reported by The Times, teachers could go on week-long strikes this autumn if the government rejects a recommended 6.5% pay deal
Senior education union sources have said that their members may back “serious and sustained” industrial action in the new academic year should ministers fail to implement the increase put forward by the independent pay review body.
One said that they could be forced to escalate strikes in the autumn and that walkouts of up to five days would be considered. A second said the mood was “hardening” and a failure to make the award would encourage more members to vote for fresh industrial action in ballots being held by England’s four big education unions over the summer.
Teachers have staged several walkouts since the dispute began last year but the longest strikes have been limited to 48 hours.
The Department for Education was caught by surprise in May when the School Teachers’ Review Body said pay should rise by 6.5 per cent for this financial year. It was two percentage points higher than the government’s own proposal, which Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, had told the unions was the best they would receive. All four rejected it.
The recommendation is also significantly higher than the five per cent ceiling the Treasury has said is necessary to curb inflation. The two percentage points would equate to £360m of extra government spending if entirely funded by the Treasury.
The National Education Union, the largest teaching union, with more than 450,000 members, has urged Keegan to publish the review body’s report and implement the recommendation.
Head teachers have said the uncertainty is making it impossible for many schools to plan budgets for the new school year.
Whitehall sources have suggested the Treasury is likely to refuse to fully fund the deal and that any announcement could be delayed until schools break up for the summer.
Union leaders believe the government is stalling to avoid fuelling anger in the profession before the strike ballots conclude.
The NASUWT is due to close its ballot on July 10, the NEU’s ends on July 28, while the ballots for the head teacher unions the ASCL and NAHT will close three days later.
If teachers vote in favour, the unions will have the authority to stage walkouts for another six months.
While refusing to comment on the potential for week-long strikes, Mary Bousted, the joint general secretary of the NEU, said teachers would react with “fury” unless the recommendation was implemented.
She pointed to figures published by the DfE last week, revealing that a record 40,000 teachers had quit in the past year.
While the DfE said almost 48,000 had joined the profession in 2022-23, up 2,800 from the previous year, Bousted said the resignations were evidence that higher pay was needed to ease the retention and recruitment crisis.
“We can play on repeat the number of times that Gillian Keegan and Rishi Sunak have said that they will leave next year’s pay award up to the independent pay review body,” she added.
“They will have no leg to stand on if they attempt to either delay or to reduce the recommendation . . . 6.5% is what members have in their minds and what they think they are going to get. If the government says they can’t afford it . . . then there will be fury in the profession.
“It will just provide absolute proof to the suspicion teachers have – that this government doesn’t understand what they do, doesn’t value their work, and isn’t prepared to pay them properly.”
Her comments were echoed by Geoff Barton, ASCL’s general secretary, who said: “This is the first time in our history that we have taken this step and this fact speaks volumes about the intransigence of a government that has neglected education and failed to address the legitimate concerns of leaders and teachers.
“We expect that any strike action would take place in the autumn term and that it would be co-ordinated with other education unions. We hope that it will not come to this and that the government will see sense. But it is time to say enough is enough.”
The DfE said: “Further strike action would cause real damage to pupils and even more disruption for parents right across the country. Thousands of schools have received significant additional funding as part of the extra £2bn of investment we are providing both this year and next.”
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