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SCHOOL leaders have called for a double-digit pay rise days after the government said teaching salaries should “return to a more reasonable level.”
The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) union said that at least a 10 per cent increase in all teaching salaries is needed to counter the sector’s recruitment and retention crisis.
Its analysis of school data has shown that staff vacancies more than doubled between 2020 and 2022, from 1,098 to 2,334.
NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said: “The fact is that the teacher vacancy rate is higher now than it has been for over a decade, with a sharp increase over the past year especially.
“It could not be clearer that teachers and school leaders are reacting to eroded salaries and the cost-of-living crisis, as well as increasing workload, pressure and lack of well-being, and are leaving the profession.
“The government needs to send a clear signal to the workforce that change is coming that starts with an urgent double-digit pay uplift.”
In its evidence to the supposedly independent school teachers’ review body (STRB), the union said the raise must be higher than average pay settlements in other industries.
But last week the government told the STRB, which makes pay recommendations in England, that pay rises in 2022 and last July were made during “two unprecedented years” and that salaries should now “return to a more sustainable level.”
The 2023 pay rise of 6.5 per cent prompted strike action to be called off.
The NAHT call comes as a consultative strike ballot is being held by the National Education Union (NEU) after general secretary Daniel Kebede accused the government of planning an “insulting” pay rise.
Mr Whiteman said the union’s evidence shows “the real-life impact of the government’s neglect of teaching staff over the last decade.”
He said: “For every school that is missing a permanent member of staff, that is a teacher not present for children in the way that is so vitally needed.”
The Department for Education said: “Last year we delivered on the manifesto commitment to give every new teacher a starting salary of at least £30,000 alongside a 6.5 per cent pay award — the highest for teachers in over 30 years — determined by the independent pay review body.”
