Lynne Neagle MS, Cabinet Secretary for Education
In September, I published the fifth report of the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body (IWPRB), covering recommendations for amendments to teachers’ pay and conditions from September 2024. I accepted all the recommendations in principle, subject to consultation. However, I announced that I would go further than the IWPRB’s recommended pay award and instead consult on an increase to all salaries and allowances of 5.5% from September 2024. This is in line with my commitment to no detriment to teachers’ pay and conditions in Wales.
I have considered the responses to that consultation and nothing new has emerged that warrants any significant reconsideration of the proposed pay award. The consultation also found broad support for the majority of the other recommendations of the IWPRB’s fifth report and those recommendations of the IWPRB’s Strategic Review of the Structure of Teachers’ and Leaders’ Pay and Conditions in Wales which were also the subject of this consultation. Where these recommendations need to be effected through the changes to the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions (Wales) Document (STPC(W)D), this has been reflected in the STPC(W)D 2024.
Consequently, I will shortly make the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions (Wales) Order 2024 which gives effect to the STPC(W)D 2024.
The pay award will be backdated to 1 September 2024. Timing of the implementation of the award will be a matter for employers with the aim to arrange for back pay to be passed on as soon as possible.
Meeting the cost of teachers’ pay is part of the core funding provided by local authorities as supported by the Local Government Settlement. Where timing does not allow for inclusion of specific and unforeseen amounts within the Settlement, the Welsh Government has in the past provided additional grant funding in-year. Local Authorities will have been expected to plan their budgets to include the 2024/25 pay uplift within their settlement allocations. However, given the difference between the planned pay uplift and the increased pay award, the Welsh Government has committed to providing additional funding to support local authorities and schools with the budgetary impacts of the pay uplift.
I would like to thank everyone who has participated in the process, through our social partnership approach combined with the independent expertise of the IWPRB. I remain committed to ensuring that we continue to work together to reward and recognise the excellent work our teachers undertake.