I’m going to start this post with a message from Daniel Kebede – the NEU General Secretary.
Why is our campaign called Save Education?
Simply put… the government proposal to the STRB (who set the Teacher’s pay rates for England) is that our pay should only increase by 6.5% over the next THREE years… and they are not going to give school budgets the increase needed to pay for this
NOTE – they don’t mean 6.5% each year!!
The 6.5% will be spread out.
THREE MORE YEARS OF BELOW INFLATION PAY INCREASES = REAL TERMS PAY CUTS!!
They have also asked the STRB to look at the 1265 “direct-time” cap… AND WE DOUBT THEY WANT TO REDUCE IT!
The 1265 cap means school leaders CANNOT direct you to work more hours than that.
Most schools already get close to that… with meetings/parents evening/etc on top of teaching/break time duties/etc.
NOTE – all that marking / prep you do at home… doesn’t count!!
So… they want you to WORK MORE HOURS… without more pay?
Similarly… if the school makes your role redundant, or move you to a lower TLR, they would no longer need to pay you at the same rate for 3 year. How can you be expected to cope with a sudden unexpected drop in salary – mortgages/housing/loans can’t just be “cancelled”!!
That’s all to do with Teachers. What about Support Staff?
The pay increases for Support Staff have also been below inflation far too often.
With no increase in school budgets, support staff will be taking on more work… and are more likely to be switched to “term time only” contracts, or even made redundant.
That is why we are balloting Teaching Staff AND Support Staff. This affects EVERYONE!!
Save Education – Increase Funding.
At the end of the previous Labour government, per pupil funding was the equivalent of £7500 in “today’s money”.
The Liberal Democrats stopped the Conservatives cutting that, in fact it WENT UP while they shared power in the coalition.
But, the Conservatives won control of the government in May 2015 until July 2024… with per pupil funding being stuck around £7000 in “today’s money”.
For my school… which is a very big school… that is a drop of £1,200,000 per year. An average sized secondary school would be £500,000+ better off if per pupil funding matched that of 10 years ago. This cannot be sustained!!
Save Education – Indicative Ballot 2026
NEU Rule 10.1 stipulates that authorisation of a formal (postal) ballot for industrial action must follow “an indicative survey of members showing that such a ballot is likely to be successful and meet the legislative requirements.”
The purpose of an indicative ballot is to determine the likelihood of success for a formal statutory postal ballot.
Additionally, a successful preliminary ballot will put pressure on the government to provide the funding needed to prevent real terms pay cuts, reduce workload and prevent redundancies,
Not had your voting link? Go to NEU Activate and ask for a “magic link” using the email address linked to your NEU account.
The deadline to vote is the 17th of April 2026.
REMEMBER… When we FIGHT TOGETHER, we can WIN TOGETHER!!
Running a meeting – there are three files you can download.
Guide for Non-Reps
Most Staffordshire schools do NOT have a rep… and Staffordshire NEU Officers won’t be able to get in to every school.
So, if you feel able… please use this guide to organise in your school
School Briefing Powerpoint & Notes
If you are a rep, or work in a school without a rep but have organised a meeting, below are the PowerPoint slide and Notes created by the NEU to help.