Teachers could take strike motion after being provided 6.5 per cent pay rise
Ballot shows teachers are prepared to strike over pay and funding
National Education Union strike action rally in Centenary Square
Members of the UK’s largest teaching union have said in an indicative ballot that they would be prepared to take industrial action to get more funding for schools. More than nine in 10 (90.5%) National Education Union (NEU) members who voted in the indicative ballot said they would be prepared to take industrial action.
However, fewer than half (48.6%) of eligible teacher members voted in the ballot. NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “This government seems intent on attacking our schools. That is why our members have indicated they are willing to take whatever action is necessary to save education.”
The NEU launched the indicative ballot on February 28 asking members if they would be prepared to strike over teacher pay and workload, and school funding. The teaching unions have criticised the Department for Education’s (DfE) recommendation that teachers should receive a 6.5% pay increase over the next three years.
The ballot asked NEU members two questions – whether they rejected this proposal, and whether they would be prepared to take industrial action to reduce workload and to get more funding for an above-inflation pay increase. Nearly all (96%) of teachers who responded to the ballot said they rejected the DfE’s pay rise proposal.
The NEU’s national executive will meet next month to decide next steps. Support staff members of the union also voted in an indicative ballot over whether they would be prepared to take industrial action over funding, workload and redundancies.
More than eight in 10 (86.5%) support staff members who voted said they would be prepared to take industrial action, from a turnout of 55.5%. Mr Kebede said: “It is an inescapable fact that schools are running on empty. More than 15 years of real-terms funding cuts have left us on our knees. Resources have dwindled while workload has increased in intensity.
“Retention rates for teachers and support staff are dire – schools are desperately short of teaching assistants and subject specialists. It feels like there is no help coming.”
He added: “To add insult to injury, schools will be given no new money to fund staff pay. This will mean more cuts – cuts to support staff jobs, cuts to subject choices, cuts to basic resources, cuts that damage children’s education.”
Mr Kebede warned at the NEU’s annual conference that many teachers feel their hope in Labour “slipping away”, and said the NEU would deliver national strike action to save school funding if needed. Delegates at teachers’ union the NASUWT’s annual conference also voted for a motion calling for a national strike ballot if the Government does not provide more funding for schools and special educational needs and disabilities (Send) and take action to cut teacher workload.
Teachers got a 4% pay rise for the 2025/26 academic year. This followed a 5.5% rise in 2024/25, and a 6.5% rise for 2023/34 after the NEU went on strike.
