Education unions, including the National Education Union, have joined forces in an attempt to urge the Secretary of Education, Damian Hinds, to make a prompt decision over teachers’ pay rise.

A letter, signed by the Association of School and College Leaders, National Association of Head Teachers, National Education UNion, ACAC and Voice, was sent to Mr Hinds asking him to “decide urgently” whether an increase of teachers’ pay will come in place for the new academic year.

The letter comes following Mr Hinds’ delayed response to the School Teachers’ Review Body report, which he had received since early May. As the end of term rapidly approaches, unions are unhappy with Mr Hinds’ silence on the matter and are now demanding him to publish both the report and respond as soon as possible. The letter wrote: “The end of term is imminent. Governing bodies cannot discuss how they will implement the pay increase. “No one knows whether your government plans to support the pay increase with additional funding.”  

With most schools already closed for the summer break, Mr Hinds’ lack of response has left head teachers and staff in a state of uncertainty over school budget and pay. Mr Hinds’ late response has also prevented head teachers from consulting with their staff before the school term ends. The consultation, which is now set to take place during the summer, has sparked frustration among the five unions and led them to speak out publicly on the issue.   

In recent years, concerns have been raised over the startling figures of teachers leaving the profession, making it difficult for schools to recruit and retain bright and talented teachers. Statistics by the Education Policy Institute, found that a fifth of full-time teachers are working up to 60 hours per week. As a result of this, teachers are forced to work as a Teaching Assistant to avoid giving up their social life outside of school. As a way of tackling the shortages in teacher recruitment; Mr Hinds vowed, earlier this year, to “strip away” pointless tasks that adds to the excessive workload of teachers.  

The pledge to cut non-teaching tasks was Mr Hinds’ effort to compromise a flexible work-life balance, after an upsetting number of hard working teachers have left the profession due to being underpaid. Along with Mr Hinds’ decision, the unions are also calling for a five per cent pay rise for all teachers through extra funding from the Treasury. A DFE spokesperson said: “That is why we have committed to making sure that teaching remains an attractive and fulfilling profession, and are working with the unions to strip away workload that doesn’t add value, improve conditions and offer all teachers high quality professional development. “We are considering the STRB report carefully and will respond in due course.”