TEACHERS will be balloted on the government’s pay recommendations, the National Education Union (NEU) announced today.

Ministers recently recommended a 2.8 per cent unfunded teacher pay rise in 2025/26 to the School Teachers Review Body (STRB).

NEU teacher members in England will take part in an indicative online ballot from March 1 to April 11. 

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “The current proposal of 2.8 per cent is not sufficient to even start to address the crisis in recruitment and retention.

“The suggestion that an unfunded pay award can be paid for by making ‘efficiencies’ is an insult to a profession who have already endured 14 years of austerity. 

“Thousands of teachers voted for the change that Labour promised for education.

“They promised to invest in education, to recruit 6,500 teachers and to value education and to secure the life chances of our children.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “This is an extraordinary decision.

"In three years, teachers have had a combined pay increase of over 17 per cent.

"As schools and families continue doing everything they can to improve attendance, and after the millions of school days lost through both the pandemic and recent industrial action, union leaderships need to think long and hard about whose interests they are putting first. For the government and the Education Secretary, it is always children who come first.”