The Education Secretary’s evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) about the 2023 pay award was published on 21st February.
The evidence published shows that targeting pay at early career remains a key priority, and the commitment to a higher starting salary of £30,000 remains critical to addressing recruitment and retention challenges where they are greatest.
The higher starting salary is designed to:
- raise the status of the teaching profession and provide a pay offer that motivates teachers to stay, especially at early career in which there are bigger challenges
- position a career in teaching as more competitive relative to other professions
- support progression from ITT into the classroom.
Recruitment has been uneven in recent years. Although the pandemic led to unprecedented increases in the recruitment of trainees, record low unemployment and vacancy rates has meant that teaching has had to compete in a very strong graduate labour market, particularly for specialisms in high demand, such as STEM and languages. The latest data for trainees starting in September 2022 reflected a challenging cycle for recruitment: in primary, this meant 93% of the postgraduate ITT target was met; for secondary, 59% of the target was met overall.
Overall retention has improved in recent years, however the wastage rate for early career teachers remains higher than for any other group. Wastage rates are significantly lower amongst experienced teachers compared to those with 5 or less years of experience. Amongst leaders, leaver rates have been on a downward trend since before the pandemic.
The DfE have asked the STRB to deliver recommendations for an award that:
• Delivers the manifesto commitment of a £30,000 starting salary, supported by a competitive early career pay package and training;
• Provides uplifts for all teachers and leaders that are comparable with the rest of the public sector and broader workforces, and competitive, especially when taking into account wider benefits including pensions;
• Supports schools to manage their overall budgets, without creating unnecessary or unmanageable pressures.
In practice this means delivering a starting salary of £30,000 and DfE is suggesting the STRB recommend the greatest uplift for the minimum of the pay scale (M1), so a 7.1% uplift to the minimum of the Rest of England pay scale, and uplifts to starting salaries in London, reflecting differences in pay structure and workforce bringing starting salaries to £30,000 or above in all regions of the country in 2023/24.
In addition to the substantial uplift at M1, the DfE is suggesting tapered uplifts to the remaining pay points on the main pay range, to ensure a coherent pay structure, with consistent progression between pay points with experienced teachers receiving a 3% pay award in 2023/24.
Overall, it is the DfE’s view that a 3.5% overall teacher pay award is manageable in 2023/24 and would maintain competitiveness within the wider labour market. Any pay award will need to be managed within the schools’ existing funding, including the additional funding allocated following the Autumn Statement. The DfE has asked the STRB to carefully consider the affordability of their recommendations for schools.
The detailed evidence can be found on GOV.UK
