The minister for school standards has failed to guarantee that plans to unify teacher pay and conditions will not result in salary cuts in trusts where pay and conditions currently deviate from national guidelines.
Catherine McKinnell was exclusively speaking to Tes about the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which was introduced to Parliament today.
The bill sets out a series of wide-ranging plans, including for all teachers to have the same “core pay and conditions” as part of a framework that all schools will follow.
Teacher pay scales
Currently, academies have the freedom to deviate from national pay scales, with some opting to increase their offer to teachers.
Asked whether she could guarantee that no teacher would have their pay cut as a result of the change, Ms McKinnell said: “No teacher should suffer detriment as a result of the changes, because we really want to retain good practice”.
Asked whether that was the same as saying there would be no pay cuts, she repeated that the Department for Education did not “think any teacher should suffer a detriment” and said it would “listen to the sector on this”.
Tes put to her that there was concern that trusts currently offering above the national pay rate would have to reduce their offer, and asked if she could confirm that this definitely would not happen.
She highlighted that the changes would not be brought in until September 2026 at the earliest, and said she was “keen to hear from academies”.
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
Asked whether she had an idea of how many academies or trusts deviate from the national pay offer at the moment, she said: “So that’s why we’re very keen to hear from the sector. Our understanding is the vast majority of schools do follow the national framework”.
A Tes investigation earlier this year found that 12 trusts - out of 625 that responded - said they exceeded the national pay scale, while a further 21 differentiated on smaller points of the deal or provided staff with additional benefits.
Trust innovation
Ms McKinnell was also asked how the new measures would support innovation when it came to recruiting and retaining teachers. She said the aim was to “harness all of the fantastic work that academies have been doing and make sure that we spread that best practice far and wide”.
She added: “And I don’t mean that in one size fits all sense - far from it. Actually, we want schools to really be able to serve their local communities, to be a best fit for their local area.”
On whether the desire for more unity on pay stretched to leadership level, and if she was comfortable with the current variation in multi-academy trust leader pay, she said: “I think that’s definitely something that is important to consider.”
However, pressed on whether that was an area she would like the government to look at, she declined to say, instead stressing the importance of good leaders across the country.
UPDATE: After continued questioning by Tes, the DfE have clarified the position on pay, but not on conditions. See our in-depth piece here.
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