The largest education union in the UK has voted to accept the government’s 5.5% pay rise for teachers in England.
In a snap poll, 95% of National Education Union (NEU) members who responded voted to accept the 2024/25 offer.
Schools will receive £1.2bn of additional funding in the 2024/25 financial year to help cover the costs, according to the NEU.
“Our members should be proud of what they have achieved through a hard-fought campaign,” the union’s general secretary Daniel Kebede said.
He added: “They have accepted this year’s pay deal, but the government should be in no doubt that we see it as just a first step in the major pay correction needed.
“Teacher pay in England was cut by around a quarter in real terms under the Conservatives and is significantly lower than it is in Scotland. This is unsustainable.
“Without a major pay correction to restore the competitiveness of teacher pay, the desire to tackle the recruitment and retention crisis promised by today’s government remit letter to the School Teachers’ Review Body will come up short.”
Several different groups from the public sector have been involved in industrial action over pay in the last few years.
Sir Keir Starmer’s government could need up to £10bn to cover such a pay increase if all public sector workers were given the 5.5% rise, an economist has previously warned.
There are more than 500,000 teachers in the UK.
Last week, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the nursing union, voted to reject the 5.5% offer.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy recently told Sky News Labour have given public sector workers “a real-terms pay rise for the first time in a long time”.
She said they deserve it and it’s good for the economy, as “every pound you put into the pockets of working people goes back onto our high streets and helps local economies to thrive”.
But the Tories have criticised the government for making “short-term decisions” which have “long-term consequences”.
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