This is an edited version of a Socialist Party leaflet given out to NEU members on Friday 18 September

In the face of the threat of strike action the government has promised £500 million extra to fund teachers’ pay – but where is the money coming from?

  • No smoke and mirrors about whether this is new money
  • No robbing Peter to pay Paul – support staff will still feel the brunt of school cuts
  • The government should provide central funding to cover the pay award, not cover it in such a way that will differ area by area and potentially still lead to cuts
  • Any money saved from pension scheme revaluations should be spent on public services and pay
  • Members voted to ballot for more pay and more funding. We can’t let Burnham off the hook. We say keep the ballot on to win what members demanded

National Education Union (NEU) general secretary Daniel Kebede announced that the NEU has secured £500 million extra to ensure the 2026-27 teacher pay award will now be fully funded. Heads have been expected to find £460 million out of existing school budgets, which would have resulted in further cuts and job losses.

In the way it was presented, reps and members would see this as a significant win.

But the money is proposed to come from the revaluation of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).

The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates as much as £24.5 billion could be ‘saved’ through the revaluations of public service pension schemes across the board, because employers need to pay in less than previously to maintain the schemes.

But the LGPS is a separate pot held by each council or employer. The amounts in the pot and the amounts that employers pay in vary. If the amount the employer needs to pay in goes down, the council or the school would normally expect that they have more to spend on something else.

Now, Heads are saying that what they thought was going to be new money to fund the pay rise turns out not to be. They have already budgeted for this money.

And as the pots vary, some schools will have enough to fund the pay rise fully, others won’t, and there will still be cuts. In many areas, support staff will feel that they are paying the price.

We do not want division between teachers and support staff and we do not want division between unions. This is why Socialist Party members on the National Executive opposed the decision not to ballot support staff, and it is why we have campaigned all summer for maximum unity between support staff unions instead of division.

As Daniel Kebede said on the day of the announcement, “74% of schools have less money in real terms than they did in 2010… Experienced teachers have seen their pay cut by 23% in real terms since 2010, contributing to the ongoing recruitment and retention crisis.”

NEU’s stated aim is to restore funding at least to 2015 levels and ultimately to 5% of GDP (the OECD average), the equivalent of £14 billion.

In the July ‘snap poll’ of NEU members, over 70% voted to ballot for action to win more overall funding and for more pay than the 3.5% for this year and 3% for next year. The pay increase is above current inflation, but for how long? That was also the decision of the Executive just before the summer holidays.

What about the £3 billion savings the government says is to come from 2027-28 Teacher Pension Scheme (TPS) changes? We need to win the commitment now from government that all of it will be ploughed back, on top of the funding settlement for next year.

Now is not the time to step back. We don’t want our union leadership rushing to let Andy Burnham off the hook. This is a two-year deal – if we don’t fight now, when will we?

Sheila Caffrey, Louise Cuffaro, Dan Warrington,

NEU National Executive members

  • The NEU Executive meets on Thursday 24 September to decide how to proceed