Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of increasing teacher starting salaries to £30,000 by 2022-23 on the recruitment and retention of teachers; how much new teachers in inner and outer London will receive in addition to that starting salary; and whether existing teachers will receive salary increases to ensure that their salary is above the new starting salary.

We introduced the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy in January 2019. This highlighted evidence demonstrating the need to take significant action on starting salaries and early career pay over the medium term to address recruitment and retention challenges. By raising starting salaries for new teachers to £30,000, we are increasing the competitiveness of the early career pay framework, and ensuring the teaching profession is positioned at the top of the graduate labour market.

Our proposals include pay rises for all teachers, and new starters after 2022 will not ‘overtake’ existing teachers. London weighting will continue, providing a salary uplift for teachers within the London areas. These proposals will be put forward in our evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body. We have asked them in the remit letter to consider how best to design the overall pay structure, alongside the move to a significantly higher starting salary, to best support recruitment and retention to the profession. This evidence will be published in due course.