Rachel Reeves has been warned she must boost pay for teachers “now or never” else ’s key election target to improve staffing in schools will be put at risk.

The Chancellor has been cautioned that it could take up to four years for measures to boost recruitment to translate into higher numbers of teachers.

The National Foundation for Educational Research ((NFER) has told Ms Reeves that her Spring Statement at the end of the month(MAR) is her last chance to take action to ensure the Government meets its target to recruit 6,500 teachers by 2029. Researchers explained that teacher supply policy actions, such as pay rises or workload reductions, typically take a year or two to improve staffing levels, and another year or two to show up in reporting data.

READ MORE:

Last year’s above inflation 5.5% pay rise, coupled with the previous Government’s introduction of £30,000 starting salaries, has still only returned starting salaries to 2010/11 levels in real terms, NFER said. The research foundation is calling for the School Teachers' Review Body (STRB) to recommend that the 2025/26 teacher pay award exceeds 3%. It also wants ministers to ensure that the Spending Review delivers pay rises in the schools budget necessary to increase teacher pay by at least 6.1% from 2026/27 to 2028/29.

In December teachers responded with fury after a pay rise of 2.8% was proposed for the next year. Departments are expected to find the cash for pay rises within their existing Budgets - which has also raised concerns about cuts elsewhere. The National Education Union this month started balloting its members to ask if they were willing to take strike action to secure a fully funded, significantly higher pay award.

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said: “The Government was elected in the hope it would value education. The government has a limited window if it hopes to solve the teacher recruitment and retention crisis within this parliament. The clock is ticking.”

Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of NASUWT teachers’ union, said: “The government can be in no doubt that a failure to deliver on pay and working conditions will only lead to a further decline in teacher numbers and a deterioration in the quality of education provided to children and young people.”

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The government’s target of recruiting 6,500 new teachers is a step in the right direction, but there is no clear plan for achieving it. Success will require action on a scale far greater than anything seen so far.”

Jack Worth, school workforce lead at NFER, said: “The time for half measures is over. Fully funded pay increases that make teacher pay more competitive are essential to keeping teachers in the classroom and attracting new recruits. The upcoming Spending Review provides the Government with the ideal opportunity to show its long-term commitment to increase the attractiveness of teaching.”

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “We are committed to resetting the relationship with the education workforce and working alongside them to re-establish teaching as an attractive, expert profession. Work has already begun, as part of our Plan for Change, to recruit an additional 6,500 expert teachers, including making £233m available next year to encourage more talented people into the classroom to teach subjects including maths, physics, chemistry and computing.”

READ MORE: