Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide additional support to educational institutions to prevent strikes in pay dispute in summer 2023.

The government and the education trade unions took part in a period of intensive talks between 17 March and 23 March, when an in-principle offer of a 4.5% pay award for 2023/24 was made by the government, alongside a range of non-pay offers, and a one-off payment of £1,000 for this year.

It is disappointing that the education trade unions have rejected this offer, and that the National Education Union (NEU) has since organised two strike days in April and May, and has said three more will happen in June or July. Decisions on teachers‘ pay for next year will be made following the independent pay review process. The department has published guidance, which sets out its expectations of school leaders and governing bodies to minimise disruption to the education of children and young people and, where disruption is unavoidable, ensure the impact is minimised. The guidance includes:

• Taking all reasonable steps to keep the school open for as many pupils as possible.
• Adopting flexible staffing models and merging classes where necessary to maximise on site attendance.

Only restricting attendance when they have no other option, and where they do so prioritising vulnerable children and young people, children of critical workers, and pupils due to sit public exams and other formal assessments. The department has seen that most schools, over 90% across the different strike days, have managed to stay open for pupils, either fully or prioritising attendance, with the latest strike day on 2 May seeing the lowest rate of full-school closures in any of the strike dates at 4.9%, meaning 95% of our schools were open.

The NEU and National Association of Head Teachers have confirmed that they would re-ballot members for further strike action from 15 May. The Association of School and College Leaders and the Teachers’ Union, NASUWT, have indicated they will also re-ballot members. This is disappointing, as any further strike action will only cause further disruption for students and parents.