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Education | What school leaders need to know about September 2025 pay changes
Written on 9 July 2025
As we near the end of the summer term, headteachers, school business managers and senior Trust staff, along with their respective Trustees and governors, will be aware that the School Teachers Review Body (STRB) has recommended a 4% pay increase for teaching staff with effect from 1 September 2025. The increase will also apply to all additional payments, including Teaching and Learning Responsibility (TLR) payments and Special Educational Needs (SEN) allowances.
The pay award recommendation has been accepted in full by the Education Secretary. With the latest figures for inflation showing that the Consumer Price Index is at 3.4% (as of May 2025) and forecasts predicting a fluctuating rate, this represents an above-inflation increase. According to the Department of Education (DfE), the move will see “pay packets increase by over £1,900 for the average classroom teacher, which would take the median salary for 2025/26 to over £51,000 a year”.
On the face of it, this could be seen as relatively good news. However, it needs to be considered in the context of two current challenges: the continuing shortage of teachers and schools’ budgets.
Challenge 1: Continuing shortage of teachers
- The National Foundation for Educational Research reports that unfilled vacancies are at their highest rate since 2010 (Teacher Labour Market Annual Report England, May 2025).
- There is also the worrying trend of teachers leaving the profession before retirement age, with the Early Careers Framework (ECF) appearing to have had little impact on recruitment and retention in the profession.
- The National Audit Office’s report also shows that there is still a significant shortage of teachers across the country, particularly at secondary school level.
The government has pledged to recruit 6,500 extra teachers, so it will be interesting to see if these statistics change over the next few years.
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Challenge 2: School budgets
The other challenge is school budgets. The pay rise is partially funded by the DfE (75%). Schools will therefore have to find the remaining 25% “through improved productivity and smarter spending”.
It’s worth noting that this funding will also have to cover any school support staff pay rises. School support staff in England are set to receive a 3.2% pay rise, backdated to 1 April 2025. The offer also includes a plan to reach a £15 per hour minimum wage within two years. However, this offer is being resisted by some unions, with a call for support staff to back industrial action if there is no improved offer on the table.
The Kreston UK Academies Benchmark Report reveals that 47% of Trusts are running at a deficit, compared to 19% in 2021. Unplanned government grants have tried to plug the gap, and the report notes that without these additional grants, all Trusts would have fallen into deficit. It’s difficult, therefore, to see how a large number of Trusts will be able to afford the increase – unless significant cost cutting is made elsewhere.
We know that many academies are already being restructured, and schools have been reluctantly carrying out redundancies where they believe they can achieve some savings, but this appears to largely involve support staff roles rather than teaching staff.
The School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) for September 2025 has been updated to reflect the new pay ranges. It’s also worth noting that from September 2026, TLR1 and TRL2 payments will be calculated based on the proportion of responsibility undertaken rather than on contracted hours. Schools have the option to implement this from September 2025 if they wish.
The outlook: What does all of this spell for schools?
Taking all of these factors into account, it seems likely that as the new academic year begins, many schools will continue to face significant challenges – particularly around pay affordability, teacher recruitment, and staff retention. Periods of turbulence appear set to continue.
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