The teacher pay review body will have the “flexibility” to recommend a pay rise for teachers next year which exceeds the 1 per cent public sector pay cap, the Treasury has indicated.
However, teachers could receive their pay award at a later point in 2018-19 compared with previous years.
In a letter sent to Patricia Rice, the chair of the School Teachers’ Review Body, Elizabeth Truss, the chief secretary to the Treasury, said:“The last spending review budgeted for a 1 per cent average increase in basic pay and progression pay awards for specific work forces, and there will still be a need for pay discipline over the coming years to ensure the affordability of the public services and the sustainability of public sector employment.
“However, the government recognises that in some parts of the public sector, particularly in areas of skill shortage, more flexibility may be required to deliver world class public services including in return for improvements to public sector productivity.”
But the letter contains a warning that next year’s pay award is likely to be delayed following the government’s decision to move to a single annual budget, in the Autumn.
“The government values hugely the role of the pay review bodies and appreciates the length of time it takes to complete a thorough process,” the letter states.
“As you know the 2018-19 annual pay round also marks the shift to a single fiscal event in the autumn which will delay your receipt of departmental evidence. The process will therefore run to a later timeline this year: a letter will follow this in due course from relevant secretaries of state and written evidence will likely be received in December rather than September as is usual for most pay review body workforces.”
The letter adds: “I realise that the change in timing will impact on when the government can expect to receive your report and, as a consequence, on when individuals will receive their pay award.
“I recognise that this is far from ideal as our hard-working public servants are entitled to receive their awards promptly. However, on balance given the importance of the process and the change in timing that has already occured, I feel it is important we work to a later timeline rather than condensing the process.”
Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the NAHT heads’ union, said: “The government has recognised that depressed pay is contributing to a shortage of recruits and the ability to hold onto talented and experienced school staff.
“Until now, the STRB has been impossibly constrained. It is now crystal clear that the review body was not able to recommend a pay award based on the evidence. There is a strong moral case for increasing public sector pay, which has been obstructed up to now by stubborn political rhetoric.”
