Ms Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT: "The situation on teachers’ pay, after year on year cuts, is now so dire..."

Another year, another report and another strong warning to Government from the Review Body on Teachers’ Pay

Commenting on the School Teachers’ Review Body’s 27th Report on the 2017/18 pay award for teachers in England and Wales, Ms Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT –  the teachers’ union said:

“The situation on teachers’ pay, after year on year cuts, is now so dire that even though the Review Body was forced to conduct its deliberations under unacceptable pressure from the DfE and the Treasury to maintain the pay cap, it has not been deterred from doing what it can, and has broken through the cap, at least for some of the lowest paid teachers, awarding them 2%. For that it should be congratulated.

“The Review Body clearly continues to be deeply concerned and, while maintaining the 1% cap for other teachers, once again it has warned the Government that new and more experienced teachers continue to be paid less than other graduate professions making it difficult to recruit and retain high quality graduates as teachers.

“Everyone except the Government appears to accept that there is a crisis in teacher supply. A crisis which will continue to deepen while the pay cap and cuts continue, while schools use the excessive freedoms and flexibilities, given to them by the Government, to deny teachers even 1% and while teachers are crushed by excessive workload.

“It is disgraceful that, despite all the evidence of the detriment teachers, delivering one of the most vital of our public services, are suffering, the Government determines to maintain the pay cap.“

Notes to Editors

Ben Padley,

Press and Media Officer

NASUWT, Hillscourt, Rose Hill, Rednal, Birmingham, B45 8RS

0121 457 6269/07785 463 119