School teachers and leaders will see their pay increase by 6.5% over the next two years, after the Education Secretary accepted the School Teachers Review Body’s pay recommendations in full today (1 July).
Teachers will receive an increase of 3.5% from September 2026, followed by 3% from September 2027, delivering a cumulative 17% rise since the general election.
In further evidence of this government’s continued investment in public services, additional funding of £1.8 billion will be provided to schools over two years, supporting pay rises for hard working teachers and support staff.
Schools, like the rest of the public sector, will need to continue to play their part and will be expected to find the first 1% of each pay award through continued efforts to maximise value from their budgets.
An additional £485 million will be provided to colleges and other further education providers over two years so they can continue to recruit and retain more excellent teachers and deliver high quality vocational, academic and technical courses.
To ensure taxpayers’ money is being invested where it is needed most, the government will also put curbs on academy trust executive pay.
From September, trusts will need to seek government approval before advertising roles over £174,000, bringing the sector in line with other public sector workforces including the NHS and colleges. Annual increases for executives will also be brought in line with the wider school workforce, meaning executives will not be able to receive pay rises higher than those set for classroom teachers.
Education Secretary Bridget Philipson said
Our brilliant school and college teachers go above and beyond every day, and I’m determined that dedication is not just recognised, but rewarded.
This multi-year deal, backed by significant additional investment, shows the immense value we place in our teachers, while giving schools and colleges certainty over pay and their budgets.
It’s also right that classroom teachers are not seeing executive pay rise faster than their own – or set at excessive levels in the first place – so tighter controls will mean unjustifiable exec salaries become a thing of the past, helping level the playing field for school staff and drive every pound towards classrooms.
The announcement today means school teachers will see an increase in their pay of 17% since this government took power – equating to almost £7,900 over four years – with the average school teacher salary rising to over £52,800 from September 2026 and over £54,400 from September 2027.
It builds on significantly improved recruitment and retention figures, with over 4,500 more teachers in secondary schools, special schools and colleges since 2024 reaching over 70% of the government’s commitment to recruit 6,500 new teachers with three years to go.
And beyond those figures, fewer schoolteachers are leaving the profession and there has been a 13% rise in the number of people choosing to train to teach this year – a post-pandemic record – signalling a strong pipeline for the future.
The government’s Maximising Value for Pupils programme will play a vital role in supporting schools to get the best value from their budgets, by offering better deals on areas like energy, recruitment, and banking. Schools across the country are already reaping the rewards, including – Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust – which increased its annual interest income from £16,000 to over £1.1 million by reviewing its banking arrangements.
The government’s work to tackle child poverty, in particular lifting the two-child benefit limit, is also widely recognised as supporting teachers and easing pressure on school finances, with schools increasingly going above and beyond to support young people in their day-to-day lives over the past decade. Over 1.5m children in Great Britain will benefit from the removal of the two-child limit, and 450,000 children will be lifted out of poverty.