THE government must fully fund the upcoming teacher pay rise in England to prevent cuts to pupil support, staffing, and extracurricular activities, education unions urged today.

The ASCL, NAHT, NEU, and Community unions warned Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson that fully funding the 4 per cent pay rise — recommended by the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) and accepted by the government in May — is essential to addressing the teacher recruitment and retention crisis.

Ms Phillipson announced that schools would receive £615 million additional funding this year to cover most of the increase, but said schools would need to absorb around 1 per cent through “improved productivity and smarter spending.”

The unions said the government must fully fund the pay award in 2025-26 to avoid further strain on school budgets.

Teachers and school leaders have seen large real-terms cuts to their pay since 2010, and excessive workload and poor well-being are driving teachers and leaders out of the profession, worsening the recruitment and retention crisis in education, unions warn.

The unions also called for scrapping performance-related pay and establishing a fair national pay structure.

They said investment is needed to improve work-life balance and expand flexible working.

In April, the NEU and NASUWT warned of potential industrial action, and in May the NEU said it would register a dispute if the pay rise was not fully funded.

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “The government must respond to the clear evidence and the united voice of the profession.

“To protect our education service and tackle the recruitment and retention crisis, the government must [invest] to properly value teachers and school leaders.”

ASCL general secretary Pepe Di’Iasio warned that partial funding forces schools to make cuts, worsening staff workloads and retention in a “vicious cycle.”

“This can only be done by ensuring that pay awards are both sufficient and fully funded,” he said.

NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman warned that tight budgets risk a “false trade-off” between staff pay and support for pupils.

Community’s Helen Osgood said that the government must ensure that “appropriate funding is provided to support the increase.”

She added: “This is the only way we can ensure that teacher pay keeps pace against inflation, and that the profession remains competitive within the labour market.”