Commenting on the announcement by the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, that the Government has accepted the School Teachers’ Review Body’s (STRB) pay recommendations for 2025/26, Natalie Perera, CEO at the Education Policy Institute (EPI), said:
“The decision by the government to implement the STRB recommendation in full is welcome and recognises the hard work of teachers across the country. Maintaining above inflation pay increments is also an important factor in addressing the recruitment and retention challenges faced by the sector. We also welcome the additional funding going to the early years and further education colleges.
However, finding 1% in efficiency savings could be difficult for some schools, particularly small schools, those with longer serving teachers and those who need to employ a larger number of teaching assistants in order to meet statutory requirements for children with Education, Health and Care Plans.
At a time when the disadvantage gap is widening and child poverty is increasing, we cannot risk schools cutting vital staff or narrowing their curriculum or pastoral offers for their pupils.
While we welcome that the DfE has found an additional £615m to cover some of the cost of the teacher pay award, we are also concerned that this has been found from within existing DfE budgets. We need more information on what has been cut in order to find this funding.
Overall, while this represents some positive news for the education sector, there will still be considerable concern about how some schools will find further savings to meet this commitment and the unanswered question about what else has been cut in the education department.”
