Partnership forum for teachers’ pay in Wales
Trade unions have broadly welcomed Education Secretary Kirsty Williams’ proposal on how teachers’ pay and conditions will be set after they are devolved to Wales.
Until now, they have been determined on an England and Wales basis.
But the Welsh Government will take responsibility for this area at the end of September, with teachers’ pay and conditions being set by the Welsh Government from September 2019.
Details of a new national model for agreeing pay and conditions have now been set out by Ms Williams.
After an eight-week consultation, she has confirmed that the model would see unions, employers and the Welsh Government coming together on an annual basis in a partnership forum.
This new forum would be able to propose changes to a draft remit for pay and conditions and set the agenda for any other issues that needed to be considered.
Following consideration of the forum’s views, Welsh ministers would submit a “final” remit for scrutiny and analysis by an independent expert body – the Welsh Pay Review Body – prior to taking any final decisions.
Taking on board concerns raised during the consultation, Ms Williams also confirmed that a public consultation stage would not form part of the annual decision-making process.
Instead, a written consultation would take place with key stakeholders only.
Ms Williams said: “This is an opportunity to develop a truly national model that enshrines a national approach to supporting and elevating the status of the teaching profession in Wales.
“What we want is a model that brings unions, employers and Welsh Government together to agree a fair, sensible and sustainable way forward – with the benefit of advice from an independent expert body.
“We’ll now start talking through the finer details of how this new model is going to work and we enter into these discussions in the spirit of co-operation.”
David Evans, Wales secretary of the National Education Union – a recent amalgamation of the National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers – said: “After our merger, the number of teaching unions involved has gone down from seven to six.
“We would have preferred a more straightforward form of collective bargaining, like they have in Scotland. But all the unions wanted to do things in slightly different ways and we welcome what is being proposed.
“We didn’t understand the original proposal, which would have involved consulting the public on a deal. We couldn’t see the justification for that, and although the Welsh Government suggested there was some legal reason for such a public consultation, they never explained the rationale and we are pleased they have now abandoned the idea.”
Mr Evans said the union had been reassured by comments made by First Minister Carwyn Jones to the effect that teachers in Wales would not get lower pay than their counterparts in England.
“That had long been a concern, in the context of the fact that Wales is a poorer country than England and wages are generally lower,” he said.
“So Carwyn’s comments were seen as important.
“Teachers realise they’re never going to be millionaires or earn enough to own holiday homes on Mustique, but they do a very important job and deserve to be paid a decent salary.
“A report is expected soon from Professor Mick Waters and two colleagues, who have been looking at teachers’ pay in Wales. It’s very important that we are able to attract and retain the teachers Wales needs to educate its young people.”