School Teachers' Pay (Hansard, 2 February 2001)

§ Mr. Blunkett

The report of the School Teachers' Review Body (STRB) on teachers' pay in England and Wales in 2001–02 has been published today and copies placed in the Library. I will now consult with the teacher employers and unions on my proposals in response to the recommendations. The key proposals are set out. I welcome the report which enables the Government to press on with their drive to raise the status and quality of the teaching profession and its attractiveness as a career to good graduates.

The Government propose to accept the STRB's recommendations that with effect from 1 April 2000: All teachers will receive a basic pay increase of 3.7 per cent., with a larger 5.9 per cent. increase at the lower end of the main pay scale to establish a minimum starting salary for a new entrant with a good honours degree of £17,001, with some consequential adjustment of other points on the scale. The rates of London area allowances (other than the discretionary Inner London area supplement) should be increased by 30 per cent. to the following values: Inner London £3,000; Outer London £1,974; and Fringe £765. A new fifth recruitment and retention allowance should be created of £5,085; red tape is being cut so that in future all schools will be able to use whichever of the five allowances they wish, and schools in challenging circumstances will be able to pay the allowances as a cumulative bonus to a teacher who remains in post for up to three years. A general provision to allow employers to offer recruitment incentives such as housing assistance should be introduced. In respect of the mark time safeguarding arrangements for teachers assimilating to the new pay structure, the maximum offset on any one occasion against increases in salary, other than 304W the threshold uplift, will be reduced from £500 to £250. We intend to make available in time for the 1 April pay calculations a revised version of the software sent to schools and LEAs last year to enable them to calculate teachers' pay.

Salaries are rising significantly. A newly qualified teacher starting in Inner London will earn £20,000, 21 per cent. more than in 1997 and 9 per cent. more than in April last year. A good experienced classroom teacher outside London who has passed the performance threshold will earn almost £27,000, 25 per cent. more than in 1997 and £3,000 (or 12 per cent.) more than in April last year. And the pay structure will contain more flexibility for schools to reward good performers and for schools in challenging circumstances to attract and retain good teachers.

In addition the assessment for Advanced Skills Teachers will be resumed later this spring on the basis that selection standards and procedures should be those that were being used up to July 2000; and that with effect from 1 January 2002, applicants for AST assessment must first have crossed the performance threshold for classroom teachers. ASTs should have a duty to undertake 'outreach' and 'inreach' work and we will consult with interested parties on the detail.

In recognition of the additional Bank Holiday which has been announced for June 2002 to commemorate Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee, the 190 days in the school year on which teachers must be available for work and may be required to teach pupils will be reduced by one day in 2001–02. There will be consequential reduction in the overall total of 1,265 hours allocated over 195 days for which the teacher must be available for work.

The criterion for progression above the starting point of the upper pay scale will be substantial and sustained performance and contribution to the school as a teacher. Teachers who move up the upper pay scale should be performing above the level of the threshold. The Department will offer guidance on how the criterion will apply, but decisions will be for governing bodies to take, advised by the head. My Department is planning to provide a substantial amount of funding to support performance awards in England. Funding in Wales is provided by the National Assembly through the revenue support grant.

New awards of the 5th management allowance will be discouraged, pending further examination by the STRB of whether it should be retained in the longer term.

Special Educational Needs Allowance 1 should be awarded on a mandatory basis to teachers in special schools; teachers of children who are hearing-impaired or visually-impaired; and teachers appointed to Special Educational Needs units in mainstream schools. The award of SEN allowance 1 in other mainstream schools should be on a discretionary basis. The award of SEN allowance 2 should continue to be on a discretionary basis, as at present.

As many schools are still working on the development of their leadership group within the new structure, there will continue to be flexibility to adjust heads' Individual School Ranges (ISRs) and salary ranges for other members of the leadership group and Advanced Skills Teachers.

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The STRB has acknowledged concerns about teachers' workload. Teaching is a challenging profession. While I make no apology for the programme we introduced to improve standards—the results of which are now becoming evident—I have already acted to cut external Government bureaucracy by, for example, reducing my Department's mailings to schools; radically simplifying the Standards Fund with an end to bidding and claiming; and increasing the use of ICT. We have also been dealing with the causes of poor morale in the mid-90s by increasing resources substantially for buildings, books and computers.

I agree with the STRB that the way forward lies not in crude limits on the hours teachers spend at work or in the classroom, which would be unworkable and would not go to the core of the problem, but in action to identify clearly the problems of excessive workload and to tackle them. We are taking forward the work the STRB has recommended to identify good practice and stimulate change. In particular, we will review the implementation of my Department's 1998 guidance to schools on cutting bureaucracy, and will continue to follow through the current drive to reduce external paperwork going to schools. The figures I announced last December show that about 40 per cent. fewer documents were sent to primary schools last term, and 66 per cent. fewer to secondary schools.

We will consult with interested parties on the detailed processes, criteria and standards for the "fast track" scheme. This scheme operates in England only; the National Assembly for Wales is considering the position in Wales.

The answer applies to England and Wales in relation to teachers' pay and conditions and the School Teachers' Review Body. References to other issues apply in England only.