14 November 2003
Teachers in England and Wales are to receive an inflation-only, multi-year pay increase for the first time as the government moves to head off a repeat of the schools funding crisis that saw mass redundancies and bitter recriminations earlier this year.
Under the deal, which is out for consultation until December, teachers will receive a basic salary increase of 2.5% from April next year and a further 2.5% from April 2005. This will be topped up to 3.25% in September (worth a total of 2.95% to teachers in 2005/06), which will become the new date for pay awards.
The package was recommended by the School Teachers' Review Body after talks with the government and unions and was announced by Education Secretary Charles Clarke this week.
Clarke added that the minimum increase in funding that had already been set for schools for 2004/05 would, 'on average', cover the pay deal. Employers have previously argued that teachers' pay increases are never fully funded.
Local authorities welcomed the deal, describing it as a 'contribution to financial stability.' It comes just a week before the provisional settlement for councils is due to be announced.
Graham Lane, chair of the National Employers' Organisation for School Teachers, said: '2.5% is what the government puts into their financial planning for pay and schools can now plan with confidence in this key area.'
But the National Union of Teachers and the National Association of Schoolmasters/ Union of Women Teachers blasted the award and accused the government of freezing teacher's pay.
'By one route or another this government will ensure teaching on the cheap,' said Doug McAvoy, NUT general secretary. 'This offers a bleak prospect for teachers as interest rates go up, mortgages go up, average earnings go up but teachers' pay slips further and further behind that of other employees.'
Clarke has also offered negotiations on awarding performance-related pay to teachers on the upper pay spine.
The issue is proving contentious, with employers urging the government to limit the number who are able to gain PRP and the government proposing new 'rigorous criteria to identify the best teachers'.
Unions have accused the government of trying to slash costs.
The parties have until January to reach agreement.
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