Scottish teaching unions are demanding a pay rise of 6.5 per cent for teachers across all grades for 2024-25.
The pay claim - which has been submitted to the Scottish government and local councils - is slightly above the rate of inflation, and is seen by the teaching unions as a modest step towards restoring teachers’ real-terms pay.
Following the submission of the claim through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT), the EIS - the country’s largest teaching union - called for local authorities and the Scottish government “to move swiftly to agree a settlement” so that teachers could receive their pay rise on time this year.
Settlement is expected to be reached so that teachers can benefit from the 2024-25 rise by 1 August. The date was moved from 1 April as part of the last pay agreement, finalised in March 2023.
Des Morris, chair of the teachers’ side of the SNCT and the EIS salaries convener, said: “The teachers’ side of the SNCT has submitted a moderate and very reasonable pay claim, and we now call on the employers and the Scottish government to negotiate in good faith towards settling this pay claim in time for the due settlement date of 1 August.”
Teacher pay has fallen in real terms
Mr Morris added: “Settling this claim would be a modest step towards restoring teachers’ pay to the levels established in the [McCrone] A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century (TP21) agreement, which ensured professional salary levels for Scotland’s teachers that were in line with comparable graduate professions and with teacher salaries in other countries.
“Unfortunately, the pay of Scottish teachers in 2024 lags far behind the salaries of teachers in 2008. With recruitment and retention of teachers becoming increasingly challenging, it is important that steps are taken from now onwards to restore teachers’ pay to levels equivalent to those established in the TP21 agreement.”
In March 2023, following a series of strikes from late 2022, teachers in Scotland secured a pay deal worth 14.6 per cent over 28 months. The industrial action included the first national strike over teacher pay since the mid-1980s, in November 2022.
Today EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said: “With a [new] pay claim that is a little above the current rate of inflation, and lower than the pay settlement recently agreed for MSPs, we hope to see swift negotiations leading to a fair, prompt pay settlement for all of Scotland’s teachers and associated professionals.”
A spokesperson for local authorities’ body Cosla said: “We have just received this claim today and will take the necessary time to review it thoroughly.
“All pay claims for 2024-25 will need to be considered against the final settlement for local government in this year’s Budget, which will not be known until late February.”
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