Teachers £5,000 worse off now than in 2010 - research
2 min read
Teachers are £5,000 worse off now than they were in 2010, new analysis has revealed.
The figures, released by Labour, show that teachers’ wages have fallen well below inflation over the last six years.
In 2010, the mean salary was £34,800, but by 2016 it had risen to just £35,100 leaving teachers significantly worse off in real terms.
According to the analysis, had the annual salary been linked to inflation over the six year period it would now be over £40,000.
The research, by teaching union NASUWT, also showed that 70% of teachers were put off the profession because of pay.
Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner said it was “no surprise” there was a deepening recruitment crisis when teachers were being handed “a real-terms pay cut year after year”.
She added: “These stark figures show that the average teacher is now thousands of pounds worse off than they were in 2010, and the government’s plans to continue with the pay cap will only make matters worse. The consequence is that schools are now struggling to find and keep the staff who run our classrooms. The Tories have missed their recruitment targets five years running and for two years in a row more teachers have left the profession than joined.”
NASUWT General Secretary, Chris Keates said: “The latest statistics indicate that more than a quarter are having to rely on credit cards, overdrafts and payday loans to make ends meet every month, and many new and recently qualified teachers are unable to afford to rent or buy a home.”
“To continue to provide high-quality public education for every child, we need a teacher workforce which is competitively remunerated and to restore teaching as the profession of choice for UK graduates.”
Since 2013 pay rises across the public sector have been effectively capped at 1%, although before the summer recess several MPs questioned whether it is time to lift the cap. An announcement is expected at the Budget later this year.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “There are now more teachers in our schools than ever before – 15,500 more since 2010. Overall the number of new teachers entering our classrooms outnumbers those leaving.
“We take teacher recruitment very seriously which is why we are investing £1.3bn up to 2020 to continue to attract the best and brightest into teaching and have given headteachers freedom over teacher pay, including the ability to pay good teachers more.”
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
