London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Teacher strikes: Unions team up in England pay dispute

Teacher strikes: Unions team up in England pay dispute

Teachers in four unions in England say they will team up on any strike action over pay - which could mean full school closures in the autumn term.

Only the National Education Union (NEU) has enough backing from members to organise walkouts at present. The next strike will be on Tuesday.

But the three other unions, including two for head teachers, are asking their members whether they want to strike.

The government said co-ordinated action would be "unreasonable".

The four unions teaming up in the dispute are the NEU, the NASUWT, the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).

Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary, called their decision to co-ordinate action an "unprecedented show of solidarity".

Joined-up strike action - if it were to happen - would affect every state school in England, according to Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU.

Between 300,000 and 400,000 teachers could be involved, he said during a joint press conference at the NAHT conference in Telford.

"We would sincerely apologise to parents for disrupting their children's education if we're pushed to that," he added.

Many teachers are about to be asked for a second time whether they want to strike.

Three of the unions have already held ballots this year. However, when the results were announced in January, only the NEU had enough members voting to move ahead to strikes.

NEU walkouts have been held since February, and it is about to reballot its members - asking them whether they would want to continue strike action into next term.

The NASUWT union and the NAHT did not meet the turnout threshold needed to strike in England in their last ballots - but both are due to reballot their members ahead of next term.

The fourth union, ASCL, is due to ballot members for the first time in its history.

More than half of England's 22,000 schools either closed or partially closed on NEU strike days in February and March.

If members from several unions, including head teachers, were to walk out together, it is likely there would be more full school closures.

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: "For unions to co-ordinate strike action with the aim of causing maximum disruption to schools is unreasonable and disproportionate, especially given the impact the pandemic has already had on their learning."

The joint announcement comes after the NAHT announced it would be reballoting members on pay, funding, workload and wellbeing.

Katie Chilvers, a Year one teacher in Birmingham, supports the NEU strike action and has walked out this year.

Katie Chilvers said she has been using social media to support the cause rather than striking


But she did not take part in the latest strike on Thursday because she could not "justify" losing another day's pay.

"We're looking at around £80 a day that we'd lose out on, on average," she said.

She said she was finding other ways to support the cause, such as "spreading the word" on social media.

The NEU says members can apply to access hardship funds.


What are teachers' pay demands?


Most state school teachers in England had a 5% rise in 2022, and a 3% rise was recommended from September 2023.

But the unions want above-inflation increases, and extra money to ensure any pay rises do not come from schools' existing budgets.

After the February strikes, the government made a new pay offer for school teachers, which included a £1,000 one-off payment this year and a 4.3% pay rise for most staff in September.

The starting salary for teachers in England is also due to rise to £30,000 a year by September - a previous government commitment.

The Department for Education described it as a "fair and reasonable offer" and said that schools would receive an extra £2.3bn over the next two years.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said in December that the increased funding would mean that school spending per pupil "will grow in real terms through to 2024 and will return to at least 2010 levels".

All four unions rejected the offer. They said it was still not fully funded, meaning schools would have had to make cuts elsewhere to afford it.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said the offer was no longer on the table, so the decision on pay would now be made by the independent pay review body.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Bunkers, Billions and Apocalypse: The Secret Compounds of Zuckerberg and the Tech Giants
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×