Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her Department's policies of the recommendation on the competitiveness of teachers’ pay in The National Foundation for Educational Research report entitled The School Teacher Labour Market in England Annual Report 2026 published on 19 March 2026.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department notes the recent National Foundation for Educational Research report, which highlights some improvement in the competitiveness of teachers’ pay.
The department values all teachers, which is why we have delivered two above inflation awards that, combined, will mean all schoolteachers will have seen an increase in their pay of almost 10% over the last two years.
In making their recommendations on teacher pay in maintained schools each year, the School Teachers’ Review Body carries out rigorous assessments as part of its reports and considers a range of evidence, including key indicators for pay competitiveness.
We are already seeing positive signs that our investment is delivering. The workforce has grown by 2,346 full-time equivalent between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools, and our teacher pipeline is growing, with just under 32,600 new entrants to initial teacher training in autumn 2025, up 13% on the previous year.