The Trades Union Congress (TUC) stepped into the row this week, backing calls from individual education unions for the DfE to make public the School Teacher Review Body (STRB) report.
It comes as the National Education Union (NEU) went ahead with two further one-day strikes this week. The first taking place on Wednesday (July 5) and the second due on Friday (July 7).
The NEU’s current mandate for industrial action expires on July 13 and these late strikes were called in a direct response to the DfE’s refusal to publish the STRB recommendations.
The STRB report sets out recommendations for teachers’ pay from September and is often not published until mid to late July. However, a leak in the Sunday Times in May claimed that the STRB has recommended a 6.5% pay rise from September.
In light of the leak, the four education unions in dispute with the government are asking for the STRB report to be published and negotiations to be re-opened as soon as possible.
The NEU as well as the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), and NASUWT are in on-going dispute with the government over the real-terms cuts to teachers’ pay and education funding seen since 2010.
Earlier this year, the DfE offered a 4.5% average pay rise from September as well as a £1,000 one-off cash payment this year. This was rejected by members of all four unions.
All four unions are currently balloting their members for strike action from September and have pledged to coordinate such action should it take place.
The intervention from the TUC this week said that the delay in publishing the STRB report is causing “anxiety across all schools and stoking mistrust”.
In a joint letter to education secretary Gillian Keegan the leaders of the TUC, NEU, NASUWT, NAHT and ASCL said there was “no good reason for any delay in their publication”.
They add: “Further delay is leading to continuing anxiety across all schools and frustrating headteachers and school leaders’ ability to plan and manage already difficult budgets for the forthcoming school year.”
The unions are particularly concerned about apparent DfE briefings to the media hinting that Ms Keegan might block pay rises this year.
The union leaders write: “Government briefings to the press about blocking public sector pay rises, while refusing to properly negotiate with education unions, risk worsening industrial relations and dragging out the current dispute.”
The letter adds: “The ball is firmly in government’s court. We urge you to publish the STRB recommendations without delay and engage immediately in meaningful negotiations with unions.”
Responding to media reports that the DfE is considering blocking the STRB recommended pay rise, NASUWT general secretary Dr Patrick Roach, said: “Gillian Keegan risks demonstrating even more contempt for the teaching profession and a disregard for children’s education if she chooses to disregard the pay review body process.
“In recent weeks Gillian Keegan has been insistent that the pay review body process will determine teachers’ pay. She must now show some integrity.
“If the government chooses to ignore the recommendations of the pay review body, this will have profound consequences for future industrial relations, with industrial action likely in the autumn.
As the first NEU strike this week took place, Geoff Barton, ASCL general secretary, put the blame firmly at the DfE’s door: “This week’s strikes are a problem of the government’s making through its neglect of education and refusal to resume formal negotiations with unions. Unless the government changes its approach then there will likely be further strikes in the autumn term.
“The government must commit to a pay award that addresses the teacher recruitment and retention crisis and it must ensure that schools have enough money to afford the cost of pay awards. Ministers have to show that they value the workforce and that the education system is a priority.”