A preliminary ballot of National Education Union (NEU) teacher members on pay has now closed.
The result demonstrates a will across membership for a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise, in line with the NEU’s campaign on pay and funding.
When asked if they agreed that teachers should receive a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise, 98% of teacher members said yes.
Asked if they are willing to take strike action to demand a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise, as part of a future formal ballot, 86% of teacher members said yes.
The union will announce a timetable for a formal ballot and potential dates of strike action in the coming week.
A formal strike ballot – the largest in a generation – will put huge pressure on the Government to fund schools so that support staff, teachers and leaders receive fully funded pay rises.
Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, joint general secretaries of the National Education Union, said:
“Today’s ballot result is a clear statement from teachers that they cannot go on like this. Their pay has been eroded considerably in recent years, and with the growing cost-of-living crisis, our members will face even greater challenges to make ends meet.
“Successive Conservative governments have failed our members, our public services, and our children. The latest pay rise, which the present Government refuses to fully fund, will simply not do. Our members expect a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise and have today demonstrated their willingness to consider strike action in pursuit of one.
“The Government will point to current economic challenges, but the fact is that on its watch – since 2010 – the situation for our members has worsened considerably. Rocketing inflation comes after more than a decade of pay erosion, which has already seen a real-terms cut in teacher salaries of 20 per cent since 2010. The value of a £30,000 starting salary, promised at the 2019 election and introduced this September, has already been wiped out by inflation.
“The Government is fully aware of the recruitment and retention crisis which has raged in the education sector throughout its time in office. It routinely misses its targets for trainees, and by its own measure 40% of teachers leave within ten years of qualifying.
“That is why we will act on today’s result and, on the instructions of our membership, proceed to a formal ballot for strike action. Our members don’t want to strike – they want to be in the classroom, doing what they do best, educating the nation’s children.
“It is regrettable that we have reached this point, but enough is enough. A yes vote will be our recommendation in the ballot, and we will use that mandate to demand from Government a serious answer to more than a decade of declining pay. It is time not only to value education but to value educators.”
