Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the (a) impact of the proposed pay rise for teachers on school budgets and (b) potential merits of providing additional funding to cover such a pay rise.

On 10 December 2024, the department published its written evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body, to inform their recommendations for school teachers’ pay in the next academic year. This included a proposed pay award of 2.8% for teachers for the 2025/26 academic year. In the context of the challenging national economic picture, a 2.8% award would be appropriate, ensuring teachers’ pay remains competitive and continues to reflect the vital contribution they make to children’s life chances.

The whole public sector, including schools, is being expected to drive better value from existing budgets to help rebuild public services. Schools will be expected to fund the 2025 pay award from the additional investment provided at the Budget, alongside their existing funds. The department will support schools to use their funding as efficiently as possible with a suite of new productivity initiatives. The department will soon publish a national affordability estimate for schools in the School Cost Technical Note. This estimate will be equivalent to the position of an average school.

Final decisions on the teacher’s pay award for 2025/26 will be made following recommendations from the independent pay review body process, which is on-going. The government will consider its response to the Pay Review Body’s recommendations with regard to the overall financial position. The written evidence sets out the department’s expectations about what schools will want to consider in their budget plans.