Warwickshire councillors back teachers' pay increase despite concern over impact

Warwickshire councillors have unanimously backed a new national pay award for teachers but remain concerned over the financial impact on schools.

Most teachers will receive a 6.5 per cent boost with those in the lowest pay grade getting a 7.1 per cent uplift, meaning all qualified full-time teachers will earn at least £30,000 per year.

Warwickshire County Council’s report highlighted that the government had put forward more than £1.4 billion nationally to cover the extra until the end of March 2025. It is unclear how the permanent increases will be funded after that.

Despite the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) confidence that the fund will cover the additional bill, it is noted that the pay award “is higher than previous planning assumptions” for some Warwickshire schools.

The report adds: “For some schools the additional funding allocated by the government will broadly align to the additional costs, but not for all schools.

“Some initial estimates are showing cost pressures, but it is not possible to determine the extent of these pressures due to individual school circumstances, including whether they have relatively high staffing levels.

“Where there is a shortfall schools will have to make savings elsewhere and this will add to continued financial pressures and reduced financial stability across the school system.

“We know many local authorities and schools will have based their financial planning on lower estimates of pay inflation than the 3.5 per cent assumed by the DfE in calculating the need for additional funding. For these schools the potential financial gap will be greater.”

Drops in real terms pay, recruitment and retention issues and the subsequent increase in the workload of teachers was raised and while there was no dissent from councillors over the pay award being necessary, affordability also came up.

Councillor Bill Gifford (Lib Dem, Leamington Milverton) said “it would be dreadful” if the ripple effect impacted upon things like the Warwickshire Music Service, whose teachers will also receive the 6.5 per cent pay increase.

“It isn’t totally without implication,” he said.

“I accept the recommendation, the teachers need to be paid and there is no question that it does not substantially affect the county council’s budget but there are elements that do.

“The music service is such an important part of education and it would be really sad if we were to cut that.

“We have this strange situation where the pay award is quite a lot higher in percentage terms than our increase in council tax but we have a duty to make sure our children have a good education.”

Councillor Sarah Millar (Lab, Leamington Clarendon) said the report raised “an awful lot of questions” and that inflation over recent years meant the increases “barely touch the sides for a lot of these people”.

She added: “I note that where there are shortfalls, schools will have to make savings elsewhere, adding to continued financial pressures.

“I have a conflict. This is the pay award but it has massive consequences for the schools as a whole as well as the recruitment and retention of teachers, and of senior leadership teams if they are coming under increasing financial pressures and shortfalls are not being made up as a result of this pay increase.”