NEU strike fund falls as teacher pay decision looms

The strike fund of England’s largest teaching union has fallen by more than £1.4 million, as it ramps up threats of industrial action.

The fall in the NEU’s “sustentation fund” comes after a sharp rise in industrial action ballots and ahead of a government decision on teacher pay.

The union held 229 industrial action ballots in the academic year 2024-25, up from 139 the previous year and 76 in 2022-23, according to its latest accounts.

The 229 ballots led to 24 instances of strike action last year: the NEU said similar figures were unavailable for the year before.

Industrial action has resulted in the union’s sustentation fund, used to pay members involved in industrial action, dropping by nearly a fifth to £7.3 million in the year to August 2025.

The fall would “not affect” the NEU’s ability to support members in further strikes, a spokesperson told Tes.

The sustentation fund received £727,231 from members and £122,888 in investment income, but spent £2.15 million on benefits to members, leaving it with a deficit of £1.43 million for the year.

The NEU said all the spending from its sustentation fund relates to strike pay, and the costs of the ballots themselves are met from its general fund.

Rising instances of industrial action

The figures come as the union is pursuing multiple local disputes across schools, trusts and councils.

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, recently told Tes that the union has a “record” number of local disputes at the moment, primarily over redundancies and restructuring.

Falling pupil rolls are one of the factors driving primary school redundancies.

The NEU said the increase in ballots this year is a “consequence of sustained and chronic underfunding of our schools”.

“It should come as no surprise that a government intent on starving schools of resources and refusing to fund a pay rise leads to a greater number of disputes throughout the country,” a spokesperson added.

The union also announced it will formally ballot for national strike action unless the government commits to a fully-funded, above-inflation pay deal for teachers.

A decision on teacher pay is expected in the coming weeks.

General secretary’s pay rises by 11.7%

Mr Kebede’s salary was £136,902 in 2024-25, up from £122,541 the previous year. This 11.7 per cent increase is more than double the national pay rise for teachers and leaders in 2024-25 (5.5 per cent).

The NEU said Mr Kebede’s salary increased in line with a 4 per cent pay rise for all union staff in 2024-25. In addition to this 4 per cent rise, he went up a point on the NEU’s pay scale.

The union’s political fund received £482,122 from members during the year and spent £419,682. The fund was in a surplus of £62,440, taking it from £959,934 to just over £1 million.

Spending from the political fund included £240,058 on conferences or meetings connected to political parties.

This included £154,304 for Labour, £35,686 for the Liberal Democrats, £35,249 for the Conservatives, £7,670 for Plaid Cymru and £7,149 for the Green Party.

A union spokesperson said: “The work carried out through the political fund seeks to achieve one of the objectives of the union, which is to seek to influence the political agenda whilst maintaining independence from any political party.”

Union’s total income increases

The NEU’s overall income rose to £86.2 million.

Just over £80 million of this came from members, including subscription income and political fund contributions, its accounts show.

The union’s total funds also rose from £120.6 million in 2023-24 to £121.8 million in 2024-25.

Its general fund stood at £98.6 million at the end of the year, up from £96.8 million a year earlier.

There were 488,666 NEU members as of August 2025, of whom 463,064 were contributing to the general fund. Membership was slightly up from the 487,420 in 2024.

The union spent £34.1 million on benefits to members, according to the accounts.