Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the proportion of qualified classroom teachers expected to move up the pay scale through progression or promotion in academic year 2022-23; what the maximum pay increase is a qualified classroom teacher could receive in academic year 2022-23; what proportion of teachers were at the top of their pay scale as of 1 January 2023; and what proportion of qualified classroom teachers are expected to move up the pay scale through progression or promotion in academic year 2022-23 who are not already at the top of their pay scale.

The Department has implemented in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s (STRB) recommendation of an 8.9% pay rise for early career teachers outside London, and a 5% pay rise for experienced teachers in 2022/23. This is the highest pay award in 30 years.

Teachers who remain in consecutive service are often eligible for a pay rise over and above the headline pay award, due to pay progression or promotion, as they move through the main and upper pay scales.

The Department’s written evidence to the STRB in 2021 estimated that, on average, 85% of teachers in early career (on the first five advisory pay points of the main pay range M1-M5) and 40% of experienced teachers below the top of the upper pay range (on M6-U2) received such a pay rise each year. This analysis was based on school workforce census and teacher pension scheme data, with the same pattern identified across several years. By combining these estimated progression rates with the distribution of classroom teachers on each advisory pay point, the Department estimates that around 40% of all qualified classroom teachers who remain in consecutive service receive a pay rise from progression or promotion. In 2022/23, teachers who progressed up the pay scale could see pay rises of up to 15.9% in total from the combination of the pay award and progression or promotion.

Some teachers are not eligible for progression. Close to a third of qualified classroom teachers are not eligible because they are at the top of the upper pay range (UPR). Last September, these teachers saw their pay rise to at least £43,685. The Department has previously published the estimated distribution of classroom teachers by advisory pay point in the rest of England pay region. The distribution used in the calculations above is based on the school workforce census with data from November 2021, as more recent data is not available, and is generated using a methodology consistent with both the statistical publication and previously published evidence to the STRB. This data is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

If we exclude the third of teachers who are already at the top of their pay range, as outlined above, the Department estimates that around 60% of the remaining teachers are expected to receive a pay rise over and above the headline award due to progression or promotion.

Teachers can also receive additional payments for taking on extra responsibilities, and there is a separate pay range for those in leadership roles.