THE Department for Education’s proposals for a three-year teacher pay deal for 2026/27 were criticised by the National Education Union (NEU) today.

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said its remit letter to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), which makes recommendations on pay, “does not adequately address the urgent need for a fully funded pay correction and significant improvements to workload.”

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson also asked the STRB to advise on whether to reduce salary safeguarding, allow maintained schools to pay bonuses and for a review of the cap on the number of hours teachers can be “directed” to work across the school year, which she said is a commonly cited reason for them leaving the profession.

The government has accepted the STRB’s recommendation of a 4 per cent pay rise for this coming September, but said schools would have to meet some of it from their own budgets.