Teachers demand inflation based pay increase

17 January 2007

The National Union of Teachers, Britain’s largest teachers’ organisation, today called for an increase in teachers’ salaries to compensate for the rise in inflation announced yesterday.

The Government and the School Teachers’ Review Body fixed salary increases for September 2006 and September 2007 at 2.5 per cent.

But it allowed for the position to be reviewed if the average headline inflation exceeded 3.25 per cent in the 12 months to March 2007 which is certain to do.

In a letter to the review body, Steve Sinnott, NUT General Secretary, said: “It is now clearly apparent that the average rate of headline inflation for the 12 months April 2006 to March 2007 will exceed the 3.25 per cent figure in the pay review body’s recommendations.”

He emphasised that there was no prospect of it falling to 3.25 per cent for the period April 2006 to March 2007. To do that, the all-items RPI would need to be around 2.6 per cent between January and March 2007.  “Inflation is not going to fall to these levels in those months and independent forecasters predict that headline inflation will be around 4 per cent in the first quarter of 2007,” the letter said.  

“The 2.5 per cent increase received by teachers on 1 September 2006 and the levels of headline inflation measured by the RPI have therefore resulted in a real cut in teachers’ pay which should be remedied without delay.  The average rate of headline inflation between April and December 2006 was 3.47 per cent and all the indications, including the latest rise in interest rates, are that this rate will be maintained for the next few months.”

For the review body to re-open the issue, it has to approach the Government for a remit to do so.

Starting salary for teachers across England and Wales is £19,641 rising after five years to a maximum for classroom teachers without any additional payments of £28,707.