Commenting on the Treasury’s economic evidence to the pay review bodies collectively, published today and significantly after the deadline for evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“It is almost as if the government is deliberately picking a fight with the teaching profession.
“The Treasury has set itself on a collision course in its obstinate refusal to fund even the inadequate 6.5 per cent teacher pay increase spread over the three years from September 2026. Providing no additional money means heads having to make cuts where there are none left to make. It is continuity austerity and will be challenged by this union.
“The document takes no account of the economic damage caused by teacher pay cuts. Schools are already facing the worst funding settlement since George Osborne left the Treasury.
“The government's policy on pay and funding will intensify the teacher recruitment and retention crisis, putting the whole education system at even greater risk. It is deeply irresponsible. The September 2025 pay award for teachers was below RPI inflation and added further to the enormous real-terms pay cut since 2010. Teacher pay is already uncompetitive and there is nothing in the government’s plans that will improve this.
“Education is running on empty. The NEU has set in motion a campaign to save education, because this government will not.
“Our staff and children deserve better than yet more cuts.”