Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason he did not accept all the pay recommendations made by the 2018 report of the School Teachers’ Review Body.

The Government is accepting in full the School Teachers Review Body’s (STRB’s) recommended 3.5% uplift to the main pay range, building on last year’s 2% uplift to the main pay range, subject to the consultation. This will both raise starting salaries significantly and increase the competitiveness of the early career pay framework.

As was set out in the STRB’s remit, it is crucial that the pay award is affordable. There will be a lower, though still substantial, uplift to the pay ranges for leaders and higher-paid teachers. Senior teachers will see a 2% uplift to the upper pay range, while pay ranges for school leaders will be uplifted by 1.5%. These are significantly larger increases than in recent years.

This is in line with the Government’s approach to pay review body recommendations across the public sector this year, with all pay awards the Government considered the wider pressures on public spending and the need to ensure they are fair both for public sector staff and the taxpayer. This award is fully funded from existing Departmental underspends - there will be no cuts to existing programmes to fund this grant.

The flexible performance-based pay system, introduced four years ago following recommendations from the STRB, means that schools are able to choose to give teachers or leaders a higher pay rise where this is appropriate to their particular local context and budget.