No movement on teachers’ pay rise amid strike threat
THE Welsh Government has confirmed the pay rise for teachers will be 5%, leaving the door open for industrial action.
Education Minister Jeremy Miles has confirmed the pay rise, which was first discussed in the summer and was described by unions as an “insult”.
The National Education Union (NEU) Cymru and the Association of School and College Unions Cymru have previously warned that their members are likely to strike if the offer was not increased.
Teachers have already been balloted on possible strike action.
In a statement yesterday, Mr Miles said: “I can announce today there will be an uplift of pay for our highly skilled and hardworking teachers in Wales.
“On July 21, subject to consultation with key stakeholders, I agreed in principle to accept all of the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body’s (IWPRB) recommendations for 2022-23 including an uplift of 5% to all statutory salary points on all pay scales and for all allowances from September 2022.
“I can confirm today that we will be accepting the review body’s recommendations.
“The new starting salary for teachers will therefore be £28,866 and the salaries of more experienced classroom teachers will increase by £2,117 to £44,450.
“Additionally, all allowances will also be uprated by 5%.”
Inflation in Wales is currently over 10% and anything below that would constitute a real terms cut in pay.
Speaking previously, Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT general secretary, said the Welsh Government had “failed to recognise the damaging impact of years of real-terms pay cuts on the morale of teachers, which is fuelling the teacher recruitment and retention crisis”.
He added that the 5% pay award for teachers and headteachers is “unacceptable at a time when inflation is running at more than 10% and it will result in even more financial misery for hardworking teachers.”
In his statement, Mr Miles said he accepted “some may be disappointed that a higher award could not be provided and recognise the legitimate right of all workers to seek a fair and decent pay rise during this challenging time of inflation and cost of living rises”.
He blamed Westminster for not provding enough funds, adding: “As additional funding has not been made available by the UK Government, we are not in a position to further address these issues over and above what has previously been considered.
“The Welsh Government’s budget will be worth £4bn less over the three years of the current settlement – £1.5bn lower next year.
“This is before the much touted further budgetary cuts the UK Government claims it will make imminently.
“Within this context, it is simply unaffordable, and would be irresponsible, to propose higher pay rises.
“We repeat our calls for the UK Government to finally do the right thing and act urgently to restore Wales’s budget so that we can support our public services.”
It seems more likely that strike action could follow this announcement as unions had demanded a 12% payrise.
Mr Miles previously said a rise to that level would cost more than £100m and finding the funds to pay for it would lead to cuts in education comparable to the loss of 1,600 full-time teaching positions.
Mr Miles added: “Members will recognise that there is a huge amount of ongoing financial uncertainty.
“In relation to future pay awards from September 2023, no compelling evidence was provided to alter my earlier proposal for the IWPRB recommendations to be kept under review and be used as a planning assumption, subject to such a review.
“I also welcomed the IWPRB’s recommendations on improvements to some key terms and conditions of teachers, notably in relation to remuneration of part-time teachers for TLR allowances; and the need to review the remuneration of ALNCos.
“I thank both employers and teacher unions for working alongside us on these matters to further improve terms and conditions for teachers in Wales.
“In particular, I welcome the agreed revisions to the required methodology for calculating TLR allowances for parttime teachers which will improve the transparency and fairness for those parttime teachers carrying out these roles from now on.
“The pay award will be backdated to September 1, 2022.
“Timing of the implementation of the award will be a matter for employers.
“Initial discussions with local authorities have been positive, with the aim to arrange for back pay to be passed on as soon as possible, hopefully before the end of December.”
Mr Miles also added that he would “continue to work together with stakeholders on a comprehensive review of the structure of teachers’ and leaders’ pay and conditions” and this “will provide us with further opportunities to improve and enhance the system and, where we can, make it fairer and more transparent for all teachers”.
Speaking about the Education Minister’s decision, David Evans, the Wales secretary for the NEU Cymru, said: “Teachers across Wales will be disappointed by this news today, and also wondering why it has taken the Minister so long to make this decision.
“The minister had the report from the IWPRB for about six months, which seems an enormous amount of time.
“We know members will be disappointed to learn that the Minister is sticking with 5%, and our ballot for strike action is currently open.
“With the cost of living biting hard, we know members will want to see this in their pay packets as soon as possible.
“Our members will want assurances this is a fully-funded pay award, not money which hard-strapped schools and local authorities have to find from existing budgets.
“If the Welsh Government is serious about supporting education we need to start by valuing our educators and providing an above inflation, fully-funded pay rise. “