PAY strikes are set to disrupt thousands of schools after negotiations with Tory ministers collapsed today over “unacceptable” real-terms wage cuts, the National Education Union (NEU) has said.

Last-ditch talks between the union’s leaders and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan failed today to reach a settlement, with teachers launching the first of seven 24-hour walkouts in England and Wales tomorrow.

The intermittent strikes, which could hit more than 23,000 primaries and secondaries over the next two months, come after most NEU members backed industrial action over a pay dispute in ballots that closed earlier this month.