Four in ten teachers will get pay increase of 16 per cent, says Gillian Keegan 

Four in ten teachers will benefit from an inflation-busting pay rise of nearly 16 per cent this year thanks to ‘progression pay’, the Education Secretary said yesterday.

Gillian Keegan reminded union bosses that, like other public sector workers, the majority of teachers in the first years of their career will be eligible for salary progression on top of the annual pay uplifts.

It means teachers – who on average earn £39,500 – could receive a pay rise of between £3,984 and £5,264, figures from the Department for Education (DfE) suggest. 

Speaking to BBC Radio 4 yesterday, Mrs Keegan said: ‘Forty per cent of classroom teachers also will get progression pay, meaning that this year 40 per cent will get up to 15.9 per cent. And of course, that’s on top of a package which includes 23 per cent employer contributory pension.

‘Everybody taking these very simplistic percentage figures forgets the progression pay, which there is with the bands of a lot of the public sector who are on strike at the moment.

‘They also get time-based and promotion-based progression within their pay bands.’ 

It came as analysis of OECD data suggests British teachers are among the highest-paid members of their profession in Europe.

Qualified primary school teachers in England with 15 years of experience earn around £44,551 on average compared with the EU average of £39,730. 

Secondary school teachers with the same level of experience also earned £44,551 in England – £1,314 more than the EU average.

Educational consultant Joe Nutt, who was a teacher for 20 years, said ‘most people’ would think the 8.9 per cent pay rise already awarded to teachers was ‘pretty generous’. 

Gillian Keegan, pictured on January 31, reminded union bosses that, like other public sector workers, the majority of teachers in the first years of their career will be eligible for salary progression

He added: ‘I do not believe for a minute that these strikes by the National Education Union (NEU) have anything to do with pay, schools or teachers – it’s an entirely political movement to help prepare for the next election.

‘The unions do not care about their members or the abuse they receive in classrooms, they care about party politics.’

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU, said: ‘Comparing pay between countries is in any case notoriously difficult – prices have risen faster in this country than in many others. Besides we’re [competing] against other graduate professions here in the UK.’

Referring to working time outside of lessons, he added: ‘The insult of real-terms pay cuts combined with unpaid working hours is driving teachers out of the profession and making it unattractive to graduates.

‘Until the Government decides to finally get a grip with these issues, the recruitment and retention crisis will remain.’