Kirsty Williams AM, Minister for Education
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
I am pleased to announce today there will be an uplift of pay to reward our highly skilled and hardworking teachers in Wales.
I announced on 22 July that subject to consultation with key stakeholders, the statutory minimum of the teacher main pay range would be increased by 5%, and that there would be a 2.75% uplift to the statutory maximum of the main pay range, minima and maxima of all other school teacher and leadership pay ranges and allowances.
I have now considered the responses to that consultation and can confirm that nothing has emerged that warrants reconsideration of the proposed pay award for teachers for 2019/20.
Consequently, I will shortly lay the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions (Wales) Order 2019 which gives effect to the first School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions (Wales) Document 2019.
The pay award will be backdated to 1 September 2019.
Today’s announcement shows the benefit of Welsh Government gaining responsibility for these powers. In setting teachers’ pay for the first time, we have diverged from proposals in England by ensuring that the starting salary for teachers in Wales will be higher. This will help to promote teaching as a profession of choice for graduates and career changers. Alongside our reforms to professional learning, the curriculum and initial teacher training, it will help to encourage the highest quality teachers to join the profession here in Wales.
We recognise that teachers’ pay is a significant element of schools and local authorities’ budgets. We are also well aware of the many competing pressures on budgets. Therefore, following discussions with local government, we will provide £12.8 million (including £0.9m for sixth form provision as a specific grant) in support of the cost of the pay award in this financial year. The future impact of this pay award is part of the government’s consideration of the Local Government Settlement.