Teachers gear up for strike action

Members of the National Education union have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action to secure a fully-funded pay award. The union ran the indicative ballot of teachers in England as part of their 2025 pay campaign.

In the ballot, 93.7% of teachers rejected the government offer of an unfunded 2.8% pay rise, and 83.4% voted yes to strike action to secure a fully-funded, significantly higher pay award that takes steps to address the crisis in recruitment and retention. The turnout was 47.2%.

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said the government “must listen to our profession and change course on teacher pay”.

Last year, the government honoured the School Teachers’ Review Body recommendation of a 5.5% increase in pay for all teachers. In 2023, teachers went on strike and won 6.5%.

Meanwhile, the NEU is facing increasing political attacks. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told an audience in Doncaster that his party would “go to war” with the teachers’ unions were Reform in power.