The leader of England’s largest education union has said there are “grounds to reopen” its pay and funding dispute after the government revised down per-pupil funding increases for next year after a funding gaffe.
The National Education Union was one of four unions that settled its dispute over pay with the Department for Education earlier this year, after teachers were offered a 6.5 per cent pay rise. The deal came with extra funding from the government to fund part of the rise.
But ministers admitted last night that per-pupil funding will rise by less than promised in July of this year, after they discovered a pupil number projections error that would have inflated the core schools budget by £370 million.
The reduction means an average secondary school will receive £58,000 less than they expected in 2024-25, while the average primary will be £12,000 worse-off.
