NASUWT calls for action on widening gender pay gap in schools
Commenting on the announcement today that the Prime Minister is issuing a consultation on businesses publishing information about pay to address the gender pay gap, Chris Keates General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers union in the UK, said:
“After five years in Coalition, introducing policies and measures which eroded years of progress on equality issues, it is good to see the Prime Minister apparently recognising that there are now significant inequalities in pay to be addressed.
“It is ironic, however, that he has chosen to highlight the gender pay gap, given that his own policies of pay deregulation in education have directly contributed to widening the gender pay gap across the teaching profession.
“His equalities Minister, the Secretary of State for Education, is presiding over significant pay inequality in schools across the country.
“In the most recent data published by the Department for Education in 2014, men’s pay advantage over women in maintained nursery/primary schools is over £2,600 and in maintained secondary schools it is over £2,400.
“The pay gap in academies has been exacerbated even more by pay deregulation and consequently, in primary academies men’s pay advantage over women is over £4,700 and in secondary academies it is over £3,200.
“I wrote to the Secretary of State on 13th July raising this issue and I look forward to her response on the strategies which will now be taken to address this, given that the Prime Minister now sees this as an important issue.”
