Teachers in England to get 3.5% pay rise
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Image source, Getty ImagesByHazel ShearingEducation correspondentPublished1 July 2026, 14:55 BSTUpdated 19 minutes agoTeachers in England will get a 3.5% pay rise from September and 3% the following year, the government has said.
The Department for Education (DfE) announced £1.8bn in additional funding but said schools would have to fund the first 1% of each rise from existing budgets. It also announced it was curbing pay of top leaders in academy trusts. The National Education Union (NEU), the largest teaching union in England, rejected the offer and said it was "considering all options" including a formal ballot on strike action.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the offer demonstrated the "immense value we place in our teachers". She added that teachers should not be "seeing executive pay rise faster than their own" and "tighter controls will mean unjustifiable exec salaries become a thing of the past". The changes mean that from September, trusts will need the government to approve any jobs advertised with salaries of more than £174,000, and executives will not be able to receive higher pay rises than classroom teachers.
The NEU said in May that it would hold a formal ballot for industrial action over pay in the autumn if the government's offer was "unacceptable". Asked whether this would still go ahead, a spokesperson said: "We are considering all options."
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