Pay survey reveals teachers being denied 1% cost of living award
A survey commissioned by the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union in the UK, has revealed that over 50% of teachers report that their school has failed to confirm that they will be paid the 1% cost of living award to which teachers were entitled on 1 September 2014.
This is an interim finding from a survey into teachers’ pay and pay progression to which over 8,500 teachers in England already have replied.
The survey finding has been submitted as evidence to the independent School Teachers’ Review Body which is currently taking evidence on the teachers’ pay award for 2015.
Chris Keates, NASUWT General Secretary, said:
“For schools to deny teachers access to a pay award which has been recommended by an independent Review Body and accepted by the Secretary of State for Education is completely unacceptable.
“Teachers have suffered deep cuts to their pay over the last four and a half years as a result of pay freezes and pay caps.
“Pay has been further eroded by significant increases in pension contributions.
“This is already having a serious adverse impact on teacher recruitment and retention, as teaching becomes increasingly unattractive to graduates. Over 30% of the places on the Coalition Government’s flagship School Direct teacher training programme remain unfilled.
“This miserliness by individual schools is putting the whole education service at a serious disadvantage. Teachers and our children and young people deserve better.
“The NASUWT will be making strong representations to the Secretary of State for Education and to the Review Body on this issue. The Union will also be consulting members in schools where the cost of living award has not been paid with a view to taking escalated industrial action in those schools.”
Notes to Editors
The NASUWT’s main and supplementary evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body is available on request.
The NASUWT survey of members opened on 5th November 2014.
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