NATIONAL Education Union members in five schools in East Sussex took two days of strike action last month over pay and ballots are taking place now in eight more schools as the dispute widens. 

The issue at stake is whether the National School Teachers Review Body’s pay recommendation to give newer lower-paid teachers on the main teachers’ pay scale a 2 per cent rise is applied in the County’s local education authority and academy schools. 

Union members have been enraged by the fact that, despite East Sussex having a very high cost of living — average house prices being over £340,000 — teachers’ pay has now fallen behind most of the rest of the country.