New analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and funded by the Nuffield Foundation provides the first evidence of what the announcement of a pay freeze for teachers in England in 2021 means for long-run changes in teacher pay.
The analysis shows teacher pay levels in 2021 will be about 8% lower in real terms than in 2007, just before the financial crisis. And they are still about 4-5% lower for less experienced teachers. These represent declines relative to average earnings, which has now recovered to be just above the level seen in 2007.
At the last election, the Conservative Party manifesto committed to increasing teacher starting salaries in England to £30,000 per year by September 2022. However, to ease pressure on school budgets and the public finances, the government has now announced a freeze on teacher pay levels in England for September 2021, and pushed back starting salaries of £30,000 to September 2023.
The level of teacher pay plays a big part in determining the recruitment and retention pressures faced by schools. With the cost of employing teachers accounting for over half of school spending, what happens to teacher salary levels also has a large bearing on the overall resource pressures faced by schools. It is also a key determinant of the material living standards for over 500,000 teachers in England.
The analysis is presented in an Observation, which is available to read in full on the IFS website. It is a part of a wider programme of work looking at trends and challenges in education spending.
Luke Sibieta, Research Fellow at the IFS, said: “It is astounding that teacher pay levels remain so far below what they were before the financial crisis in 2007. The 8% drop in earnings for more experienced teachers has almost certainly contributed to the worsening picture on teacher recruitment and retention. The fact that it has taken a global pandemic and economic crisis to ease the pressures on the teacher labour market illustrates the scale of the challenge. To stop these problems getting worse, the government will need to provide above-inflation awards from 2022 onwards.”
