The National Education Union will ballot its members for strike action if the education secretary does not agree to fully-fund an inflation-busting pay rise for teachers and support staff by next Friday.
The union, which is currently holding an indicative ballot of teacher and support staff members over industrial action, said it would officially enter a trade dispute with Kit Malthouse if its demands aren’t met.
It comes after schools minister Jonathan Gullis said the government was “not going to budge” on its pay offer, worth just 5 per cent for most teachers. The current CPI inflation rate is 9.9 per cent.
In a letter, the NEU said the education secretary had until noon on October 14 to give schools the funds to allow them to increase the pay of staff “at a rate greater than the rate of inflation (RPI) as at September 2022”.
