Annex to Written Ministerial Statement

DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION

School Teachers’ Review Body’s (STRB’s) recommendations and response from the Secretary of State for Education (Nicky Morgan).

[The following sets out the full set of recommendations from the STRB as published in the 25th Report (CM) on 12 March 2015, together with the response from the Secretary of State for Education. The STRB’s recommendations are in bold.]

The Secretary of State for Education (Nicky Morgan): The 25th Report of the STRB is being published today. It covers matters referred to the STRB in September 2014. Copies are available in the Vote Office, the Printed Paper Officeand in the Libraries of the House and online at

In making its recommendations, the STRB was asked to consider the adjustments that should be made to the salary and allowance ranges for classroom teachers, unqualified teachers and school leaders to reflect the average of up to1% pay award for public sector workers.

In making its recommendations, the STRB was asked to consider:

a)The need to ensure that the proposals reflect the Government’s policy, as set out in the Chancellor’s Spending Review statement of June 2013 that public sector pay awards in 2015-16 average up to 1%;

b)The need to ensure that any proposals are affordable at both a national level and within the existing budgets of individual schools;

c)The need to ensure that any proposals are not difficult or onerous for schools to implement;

d)Evidence of the national state of teacher and school leader supply, including rates of recruitment and retention, vacancy rates and the quality of candidates entering the profession;

e)Evidence of the wider state of the labour market in England and Wales;

f)Forecast changes in the pupil population and consequent changes in the level of demand for teachers;

g)The Government’s commitment to increasing autonomy for all head teachers and governing bodies to develop pay arrangements that are suited to the individual circumstances of their schoolsand to determine teachers' pay within the statutory minima and maxima.

I am grateful for the in-depth consideration which the STRB has given to this important matter. I am inviting comments on the STRB’s report and my response to its recommendations by 23 April 2015.

The STRB has recommended:

  • A 1% uplift should be applied to the minima of all the pay ranges and allowances in the national pay framework (unqualified teachers’ range, main pay range, upper pay range, leading practitioner pay range and the leadership pay range, including the minima of the eight head teacher group ranges), the three levels of Teaching and Learning Responsibility (TLR) payments and the Special Educational Needs (SEN) allowances.
  • A 2% uplift should be applied to the maxima of the main pay range.
  • There should be no increase to the maxima of the eight head teacher group pay ranges.
  • An uplift of 1% should be applied to the maxima of all other pay ranges and allowances in the national pay framework (unqualified teachers’ range, upper pay range, leading practitioner pay range, the three levels of Teaching and Learning Responsibility (TLR) payments and the Special Educational Needs (SEN) allowances).

Finally I will want to ensure that we have had due regard to equalities considerations before confirming the Government’s response. I would welcome consultees’ views on these matters also.