The 3.5 per cent teacher pay rise remains underfunded and could force schools to cut classroom services, the NASUWT teaching union has warned, intensifying pressure on Education Secretary Lucy Powell.
The union says schools have already built pension savings cited by Ms Powell into their financial plans, meaning the £500 million cannot be treated as new money to cover the award.
The dispute follows a letter from Ms Powell to the NEU, which had threatened strike action, saying savings from the revaluation of support staff’s pensions would not be “clawed back” and would improve schools’ ability to meet the cost of the pay rise.
“We are confident that schools will be able to cover the costs of the teacher pay award, at a national level,” she wrote.
Daniel Kebede, the NEU’s general secretary, subsequently described the announcement as a victory and said it meant the pay award would be “fully funded”.
NASUWT says £500 million still needs to be found
But NASUWT general secretary Matt Wrack said the pension savings had been announced months earlier and were already included in school budgets for other purposes.
In a letter to Ms Powell last week, Mr Wrack said employers “have been aware of the new rates for some time and have already built this into financial planning”.
He warned: “A pay rise that isn’t fully funded simply leads to cuts in school budgets and is yet another attack on children’s education.”
“Despite all the spin, there is no new money for schools and the underfunding crisis remains,” he said.
Mr Wrack added that teachers needed clarity from the Department for Education, saying there was “concern and confusion in schools with mixed messages coming from ministers”.
“If Lucy Powell believes schools can fund this pay award from existing budgets she needs to explain to the profession which services she expects schools to cut,” he said.
The pay award was originally due to be part-funded by the Treasury, with schools expected to find 1 per cent from their own budgets. The NEU then threatened nationwide strikes unless the Government agreed to fund the remainder.
Shadow education secretary Laura Trott said the pension announcement was “not new money for schools” and did not reflect the financial pressures facing them.
A Government source rejected the suggestion that ministers had used spin, saying the position had been “factual and clear” and that there was no new money.
A Department for Education spokesman said the pay award had not changed, but schools’ affordability position had improved following the latest valuation of the Local Government Pension Scheme.
“This represents a substantial improvement in schools’ financial position for this year – helping them meet the costs of teacher pay,” the spokesman said.
The department said the valuation reduced the contributions schools must make as employers without reducing the pension benefits received by support staff, helping to support school budgets overall.
