Teacher pay will rise by 3.5 per cent from September 2026, but schools will be on the hook for almost a third of the cost.

The government has published its long-awaited response to the school teachers’ review body (STRB) report for 2026, though the report itself is yet to be published.

It confirms a rise of 3.5 per cent from September for all school teachers. Some of those on the unqualified pay scale will see larger rises, as the government plans to lift the bottom of the scale by 5 per cent.

Teachers will then receive a further 3 per cent pay rise from September 2027.

But despite unions threatening to strike unless the rise is fully funded, government has confirmed schools will be expected to fund around a third of both pay awards using existing budgets.

“Schools, like the rest of the public sector, will need to continue to play their part and will be expected to find the first 1 per cent of each pay award through continued efforts to maximise value from their budgets,” said the DfE.

To fund the remaining 2.5 per cent of the 2026 pay award, schools will receive additional funding of £700 million to cover the period from September to March next year, rising to £1.1 billion for the full 2027-28 financial year. 

This additional funding will come from DfE budgets, said Bridget Phillipson.

Funding for the 2027 pay rise has not been confirmed.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the multi-year deal for teachers, “backed by significant additional investment, shows the immense value we place in our teachers, while giving schools and colleges certainty over pay and their budgets”.

In its evidence to the STRB, the DfE called for a 6.5 per cent pay rise, spread over three years. The Department for Education said schools would be expected to “realise and sustain better value from existing spend” to help deliver this.

But modelling by the department later showed schools would be able to afford a rise of just 2.7 per cent over the next two years.

Strike threat

Whether today’s announcement will be enough to hold off strike action remains to be seen.

Teaching union the NEU previously said it will formally ballot for strike action in October, if the government does not provide a “fully funded pay offer…that exceeds inflation”, along with “sufficient funding for schools to prevent redundancies and rises in workload”.

As of May, UK inflation sat at 2.8 per cent, but latest Bank of England modelling shows it could rise as high as 3.7 per cent by the end of 2026 as conflict in the Middle East has knock-on effects for the global economy.

The STRB typically makes pay recommendations on an annual basis, but this year ministers asked it to make a multi-year recommendation, to help schools with longer-term budget planning.

Last year, the government accepted the STRB’s recommendation of a 4 per cent pay rise for September 2025. It provided additional funding of £615m to help cover this, but ordered schools to meet around one-quarter of that rise from their own budgets.

New controls on CEO pay

As revealed by Schools Week yesterday, the government has also announced plans to control academy trust executive pay.

From September, trusts will need to seek government approval before advertising roles over £174,000, or awarding performance-related bonuses over £25,000.

The DfE says this will “bring…the sector in line with other public sector workforces including the NHS and colleges”.

But the £174,000 rule will only apply to new appointments, advertised from 1 September. CEOs already on large salaries won’t see them cut.

Annual pay increases for executives “will also be brought in line with the wider school workforce, meaning executives will not be able to receive pay rises higher than those set for classroom teachers”.

Phillipson said it was “also right that classroom teachers are not seeing executive pay rise faster than their own – or set at excessive levels in the first place – so tighter controls will mean unjustifiable exec salaries become a thing of the past, helping level the playing field for school staff and drive every pound towards classrooms”.

This is a breaking story. More to follow.