Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to introduce targeted retention incentives for experienced teachers in addition to those offered to early-career teachers.

Supporting our expert teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child, as the within-school factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcomes is high-quality teaching. Combined with the previous year’s 5.5% award, this year’s above-inflation pay award will mean schoolteachers have seen an increase in their pay of almost 10% over two years.

The financial incentives the department offers are targeted where there is most need to recruit and retain teachers. School workforce data shows that teachers are most likely to leave within the first five years of their career. Targeted Retention Incentives are currently offered to mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools as it is vital that we retain new teachers in these priority subjects and in the schools that need them most.