LABOUR could face teacher strikes after schools funding was passed over in the Budget, Britain’s largest teaching union warned today.

The National Education Union (NEU) national executive will meet on Saturday “to decide next steps.”

Wednesday’s Budget did not mention funding for schools other than £5 million for libraries in secondary schools and £18m for playgrounds.

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede warned that it would not accept “the continued underfunding of our schools” or “another pay cut.”

As leaking roofs and high energy bills continue to pile pressure on school budgets, “we must convince this government to change course — even if that means balloting for strike action,” he said.

The Department for Education (DfE) has recommended a 6.5 per cent teachers’ pay rise spread across three years, from 2026-29, to the pay review body.

Unions warned at the time that the recommendation would not address real-terms pay cuts for teachers over the past decade.

But updated inflation and wage growth forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) make the recommendation “feel very much like austerity 2.0,” said the NEU.

“The OBR has adjusted its inflation and wage growth forecast up, meaning the government’s proposals to the School Teachers’ Review Body are even more out of step with what is needed,” said Mr Kebede.

“The Chancellor says there is no return to austerity, but pay cuts against inflation means this will feel very much like austerity 2.0 to teachers and other educators.”

The OBR also warned that no savings have been identified to offset the estimated £6 billion it will cost the government to take on special educational needs and disabilities (Send) costs from 2028/29.

Schools would see a 4.9 per cent fall in per-pupil spending in 2028/29 if the government funded these costs from the DfE’s core schools budget, rather than the 0.5 per cent increase planned.

The DfE said any deficits would be absorbed within the overall government budget.

NASUWT general secretary Matt Wrack said: “The Chancellor needs to deliver a fully-funded pay award for teachers that reflects the importance of teachers in changing the lives of children, and show how government will work with the profession to rebuild resilience in schools by delivering increases in funding to school budgets that have been stripped bare.”