Campaign reply - Teachers Pay and increased starting salaries

Several constituents have contacted me regarding the starting salaries for teachers. 

Teachers have a huge impact on children’s futures and so I want all our children to be taught by the brightest and best. We must therefore attract the best candidates to teach in our schools and I am pleased by the Government’s action on teachers’ pay to ensure teaching remains an attractive career choice.

Under plans for the biggest reform to teachers’ pay in a generation, the salaries for new teachers are set to rise to £30,000 by 2022/23. This will make starting salaries for teachers among the most attractive on the market and build on the above average pay increases for teachers in 2017/18 and 2018/19.

Teachers also received an above inflation pay rise of 2.75 per cent for the 2019/20 academic year, effective from 1 September 2019. This increase in pay is supported by an additional £105 million, to be paid through the teachers’ pay grant, and will mean a £1,000 increase to average classroom teacher pay and a £1,620 increase in the average pay of school leaders.

These increases to teachers’ pay are made possible by the funding settlement for the next three years, which will see an extra £14 billion going into our schools.

In addition, teachers’ pensions are among the most generous available. It is right that increased contributions to the teachers’ pension scheme will be fully funded, meaning that teachers will get an employer contribution of 23.6 per cent on top their salary towards their pension every year.

I believe that children in Truro and Falmouth deserve the very best start in life and I therefore welcome the significant increases to teachers’ pay that will allow us to attract and retain talented and inspiring teachers.