NEU to launch formal strike ballot over funding and pay

The country’s largest education union is set to proceed to a formal ballot on industrial action for improved funding and pay, Tes can reveal.

The NEU teaching union announced in May that it would launch a formal ballot for industrial action unless the government made a fully-funded, above-inflation pay offer.

The union, led by general secretary Daniel Kebede (pictured), has now confirmed that it will initiate a formal ballot this autumn, following the news that schools will have to fund half of the latest teacher pay award themselves.

The ballot will be about both teacher pay and school funding.

Schools forced to fund half of teacher pay deal

As Tes first revealed, teachers are set to receive a 3.5 per cent pay rise in 2026-27, followed by a 3 per cent increase from September 2027.

While schools will receive Department for Education funding to cover the first 1.7 per cent of the pay rise, they will have to fund 1 per cent themselves - in addition to the “financial headroom” the government claims exists in schools’ budgets to cover the rest.

In a recent survey of NEU members, the findings of which have been shared with Tes, 97 per cent of respondents said they rejected the government’s 1.7 per cent funding for the teacher pay award.

The NEU may not be the only union that ends up considering industrial action over school funding.

Tes also revealed this week that the Association of School and College Leaders will survey its members this autumn “to ascertain the impact on school budgets” of the DfE teacher pay announcement.

As part of that survey, ASCL will ask what action it should take next, including “the option of moving to an indicative ballot on industrial action”.

The news that the NEU is moving ahead with a formal ballot comes as a new prime minister is set to enter No 10 next week, with the former mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, taking over from Sir Keir Starmer.

Mr Kebede said: “The new prime minister has got a real problem. Schools have been asked to run on empty for too long.

“A further pay award that is not sufficiently funded risks taking our schools from financial crisis to collapse. I am clear, and my national executive is clear, that we will be moving to a formal ballot to ensure our children have access to the quality of education they deserve and to ensure our members can lead lives of dignity.

“Andy Burnham has a choice. He can continue in the direction of travel of Keir Starmer or he can end austerity in education.”