It comes after education secretary Gillian Keegan on Tuesday (February 21) offered to move to more intensive “formal talks” on “pay, conditions and reform” but only on condition that the NEU call-off three days of strike action planned for February 28, March 1 and 2. The government has said that if the strike action is not called off then there will be no talks.
However, the NEU says it is “unacceptable” and “incredible” that the DfE expects the NEU to call off strike action without giving any information on the scope of the formal talks it is offering. The union stated that it will not agree to call off its strikes unless the government negotiates in "good faith".
It means the two sides have reached an impasse over whether formal talks can take place this week.
A key sticking point seems to be whether the DfE is willing to negotiate this year’s pay settlement, which at 5% for most teachers was well below levels of inflation.
On Wednesday afternoon, the NEU confirmed it had written to the DfE in what it called a “serious attempt to make real and substantial progress in the dispute over pay and funding”.
The NEU’s communication with the DfE stated: “We welcome the commitment to substantive and formal talks to resolve the dispute – which is fundamentally about pay and funding this year.
“In a sign of goodwill, if substantive progress can be made, we are prepared to recommend a pause to strikes next week to our National Executive Committee this Saturday.”
In a statement to the media, the NEU said that if the government “comes forward with a serious proposal to end the dispute ahead of Saturday and we consider it compelling enough, then we will put it to our national executive this Saturday with the recommendation to pause forthcoming strike action in order to discuss it further.
“As things stand, however, no such offer has been made and the strikes remain in place.”
The planned strikes are to take place on February 28 across the North of England, March 1 across the Midlands and East of England, and March 2 across London and the South. Two more national strikes are planned for March 15 and 16.
It comes after another round of talks between unions and the DfE on Tuesday (February 21) failed to make progress, with one union leader labelling the discussions “polite and meandering”.
Unions have been further angered this week when the DfE published its formal evidence to the School Teachers Review Body recommending a below-inflation rise of just 3% for experienced teachers from September 2023 in addition to rises for new teachers to bring starting salaries to £30,000 (meaning an average pay award of 3.5% across the board).
The DfE’s submission says that schools will be able to manage the pay rise from existing budgets.
READ OUR REPORT: DfE’s teacher pay submission undermines strike talks
In a statement on Wednesday, Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, joint general secretaries of the National Education Union, said it was “unacceptable” and “incredible” that the DfE expected the NEU to call off its strikes without giving any information on the scope of the formal talks it is offering.
The dispute centres on historic real-terms cuts to teachers’ pay which equate to as much as 13% since 2010. Salaries for teachers on most pay grades are expected to fall by 5% in real-terms this year alone (Sibieta, 2023). See full details of the pay dispute here. The NEU is pushing for a 10% pay rise.
The NEU’s media statement in full
“We are ready to begin negotiations now. We are prepared to negotiate every day, and throughout the weekend, to make progress. But the government is not willing to begin negotiations until the NEU agrees, prior to the commencement of negotiations, to pause its action next week.
“It seems incredible to us that ministers are intent on putting this obstacle in the way of substantial negotiations. It is unacceptable that ministers are not willing to give any information about the scope of the proposed negotiations nor the funding available to increase pay for teachers this year (or indeed, if any funding is available to do this).
“This means, in effect, that ministers are requiring the NEU to give up the only thing that has brought government to the negotiating table, without any assurance that the negotiations are, indeed, serious and in good faith.
“It is important to note that the government’s offer of negotiations is set in the context of the DfE’s submission to the STRB which sets an affordability limit of 3% for experienced teachers’ pay next year. This would mean, in addition to the 23% (RPI) or 11% (CPI) cut in teachers’ pay over the past 12 years, they would face a further substantial pay cut next year because of the predicted rate of inflation – of 10% RPI and 6% CPI.
“We reiterate – we are ready to negotiate. We are prepared, should the negotiations make real progress, to pause next week’s strikes. But the government has to show good faith. We ask ministers to drop its preconditions and to begin serious negotiations. We ask ministers to engage in earnest so that we can achieve what is surely a common objective – uninterrupted schooling for the nation’s children and young people.”