Introduction
LGA Consultation on teachers' pay 2024 – Evidence for the school teacher review body
January 2024
Academy employers (Employer Link) results
Consultation conducted online with one response allowed per organisation
Deadline: 10am on 29 January 2024
The Government published the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) remit late on 20 December, asking for pay recommendations for all teachers and school leaders in 2024/25.
The remit highlighted that the aim should be to promote recruitment and retention whilst noting the ‘historically high pay awards’ last year across the pay review bodies. The STRB was reminded to consider the government’s affordability position and the cost pressures that schools faced.
The STRB also invited to offer a view on the potential benefits and challenges, in principle, i.e. not for implementation in 2024, of ‘targeting remuneration by subject in the future in order to address subject-specific teacher shortages’.
Therefore, the following survey questions aim to extract evidence (including anecdotal evidence) to inform the NEOST response back to the STRB with the aim of influencing the STRB recommendations for teachers' pay and conditions in 2024/25.
Throughout this survey we will be using the term ‘organisation’ to represent the employer responded on behalf of Academy Trust (AT) or Local Authority (LA).
Only 1 submitted response per organisation to the online survey was accepted. The survey responses are intended to be reported on an anonymous basis,
Deadline: 10 am on Monday, January 29, 2024.
| TOTAL NUMBER OF RESPONSES TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION | TOTAL |
| Academy Employers (Employer Link) | 84 |
Questions 1 - 2 asked respondents for their organisation and email addresses.
Recruitment challenges
Primary Recruitment
Where 1 is Not Difficult to Recruit and 5 is Most Difficult to Recruit to
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heads | 11 responses (16%) | 10 responses (14%) | 11 responses (16%) | 24 responses (34%) | 14 responses (20%) |
| Senior Leadership | 10 responses (14%) | 18 responses (25%) | 14 responses (20%) | 20 responses (28%) | 9 responses (13%) |
| Experienced Teachers | 1 response (1%) | 11 responses (15%) | 22 responses (31%) | 19 responses (26%) | 19 responses (26%) |
| Early Careers Teachers | 11 responses (16%) | 12 responses (17%) | 31 responses (44%) | 8 responses (11%) | 8 responses (11%) |
Secondary recruitment
Where 1 is Not Difficult to Recruit and 5 is Most Difficult to Recruit to
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heads | 9 responses (15%) | 12 responses (20%) | 8 responses (13%) | 21 responses (34%) | 11 responses (18%) |
| Senior Leadership | 6 responses (10%) | 13 responses (21%) | 17 responses (28%) | 20 responses (33%) | 5 responses (8%) |
| Experienced Teachers | 1 response (2%) | 3 responses (5%) | 12 responses (18%) | 23 responses (35%) | 27 responses (41%) |
| Early Careers Teachers | 4 responses (6%) | 10 responses (16%) | 19 responses (30%) | 20 responses (32%) | 10 responses (16%) |
Retention challenges
Primary retention
Where 1 is Not Difficult to Retain and 5 is Most Difficult to Retain
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heads | 27 responses (39%) | 12 responses (17%) | 14 responses (20%) | 11 responses (16%) | 6 responses (9%) |
| Senior Leadership | 21 responses (30%) | 15 responses (21%) | 18 responses (26%) | 14 responses (20%) | 2 responses (3%) |
| Experienced Teachers | 6 responses (8%) | 14 responses (19%) | 22 responses (31%) | 21 responses (29%) | 9 responses (13%) |
| Early Careers Teachers | 5 responses (7%) | 19 responses (28%) | 20 responses (29%) | 15 responses (22%) | 10 responses (14%) |
Secondary retention
Where 1 is Not Difficult to Retain and 5 is Most Difficult to Retain
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heads | 19 responses (31%) | 13 responses (21%) | 15 responses (25%) | 10 responses (16%) | 4 responses (7%) |
| Senior Leadership | 11 responses (18%) | 19 responses (31%) | 18 responses (29%) | 11 responses (18%) | 3 responses (5%) |
| Experienced Teachers | 4 responses (6%) | 6 responses (9%) | 21 responses (32%) | 23 responses (35%) | 12 responses (18%) |
| Early Careers Teachers | 4 responses (6%) | 12 responses (19%) | 23 responses (37%) | 12 responses (19%) | 12 responses (19%) |
General recruitment and retention challenges
Where 1 is Not Significant and 5 is Most Significant
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level of Pay | 3 responses (4%) | 6 responses (7%) | 22 responses (26%) | 35 responses (42%) | 18 responses (21%) |
| Workload | 1 response (1%) | 1 response (1%) | 16 responses (19%) | 26 responses (31%) | 40 responses (48%) |
| Wellbeing | 2 responses (2%) | 6 responses (7%) | 20 responses (24%) | 33 responses (39%) | 23 responses (27%) |
| OFSTED | 3 responses (4%) | 10 responses (12%) | 21 responses (25%) | 26 responses (31%) | 23 responses (28%) |
| Levels of Deprivation | 9 responses (11%) | 20 responses (25%) | 28 responses (35%) | 12 responses (15%) | 12 responses (15%) |
| Pupil Behaviour | 6 responses (7%) | 9 responses (11%) | 23 responses (27%) | 27 responses (32%) | 19 responses (23%) |
| Parent Complaints | 7 responses (8%) | 17 responses (20%) | 26 responses (31%) | 22 responses (26%) | 12 responses (14%) |
| SEN levels | 3 responses (4%) | 9 responses (11%) | 27 responses (33%) | 26 responses (32%) | 17 responses (21%) |
Where 1 is Not Significant and 5 is Most Significant
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coastal Towns | 15 responses (26%) | 2 responses (4%) | 9 responses (16%) | 16 responses (28%) | 15 responses (26%) |
| Rural Communities | 10 responses (17%) | 3 responses (5%) | 16 responses (27%) | 17 responses (29%) | 13 responses (22%) |
| Urban/Inner City | 5 responses (7%) | 15 responses (22%) | 22 responses (32%) | 18 responses (26%) | 8 responses (12%) |
School finances affordability
The following questions focussed on impact, affordability, and budgeting.
| 0% | 1 response (1%) |
| 0-0.99% | 0 responses (0%) |
| 1-1.99% | 7 responses (8%) |
| 2-2.99% | 22 responses (26%) |
| 3-3.99% | 27 responses (32%) |
| 4-4.99% | 12 responses (14%) |
| 5% + | 11 responses (13%) |
| Don’t know | 4 responses (5%) |
| 0% | 16 responses (19%) |
| 0-0.99% | 7 responses (8%) |
| 1-1.99% | 18 responses (21%) |
| 2-2.99% | 25 responses (30%) |
| 3-3.99% | 13 responses (15%) |
| 4-4.99% | 1 response (1%) |
| 5% + | 0 responses (0%) |
| Don’t know | 4 responses (5%) |
| Significant impact | 64 responses (76%) |
| Moderate | 19 responses (23%) |
| Little impact in 2024/25 due to the option to use of “one off” reserves | 0 responses (0%) |
| No impact | 0 responses (0%) |
| Don’t know | 1 response (1%) |
| Left blank | 0 responses (0%) |
Please select three options.
| Reduction in administrative roles | 23 responses (9%) |
| Reduction in teaching assistant roles | 29 responses (12%) |
| Reduction in teaching roles | 18 responses (7%) |
| Reduction in pastoral support roles | 14 responses (6%) |
| Reduction in staffing – too early to say which roles | 56 responses (22%) |
| Reduction in curriculum offered to pupils | 25 responses (10%) |
| Reduction in out of hours service (e.g. breakfast/after school clubs) | 5 responses (2%) |
| Reduction in enrichment activities | 25 responses (10%) |
| Reduction in estate investment/IT/logistical budgets | 57 responses (23%) |
| Left Blank | 0 responses (0%) |
| Primary | 31 responses (37%) |
| Secondary | 25 responses (30%) |
| Smaller schools | 19 responses (23%) |
| Special schools | 6 responses (7%) |
| Alternative provision including Pupil Referral Units | 1 response (1%) |
| Left Blank | 2 responses (2%) |