“We welcome the early start to the next pay round and plans for a multi-year pay award as these steps will allow schools and trusts to plan their budgets with a greater degree of certainty than has previously been the case. Indeed, the pay cycle was so late under the last government that budget setting became an exercise in guesswork, and we are pleased that the new administration has taken steps to better support this process.
“We will be calling for pay to be set at a level sufficient to address teacher shortages and we will emphasise in particular that it is vital for pay awards to be fully funded by the government. The pay award agreed in the most recent round is only partially funded, leaving schools having to find the rest of the money from savings elsewhere.
“This has increased the financial pressures under which they are operating, and many are having to make cutbacks.”