SCHOOLS face the 'largest ballot of teachers for a generation' after leaders of more than threequarters of a million teachers and school heads in England made a blistering attack on the government’s “botched” handling of their pay award.

Five unions condemned the  government’s 5 per cent offer as a “reckless gamble,” a “masterclass in mismanagement” and “putting schools on the brink of a full-blown funding crisis.”

National Education Union (NEU) joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said: “Given this very poor pay proposal we will look towards consulting our members in the autumn. This will be the largest ballot of teachers for a generation.

“Teachers don’t want to strike – they want to be in the classroom teaching our pupils. But we cannot stand by and watch the biggest real-terms decline in teacher pay this century.” 

NASUWT general secretary Patrick Roach had already warned of industrial action if the award meant another real-terms pay cut.

“We will ballot our members nationally for industrial action if the government does not deliver the restorative pay award that our members demand and deserve,” he said at the Durham Miners’ Gala this month.

A joint statement by the NEU and NASUWT, alongside the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and Community, said the award “represents a significant real-terms cut to the salaries of most teachers and all school leaders, putting at further risk the supply line of staff on which schools depend.”

The five unions say schools already face a staffing crisis, with 40 per cent of teachers quitting the profession 10 years after qualifying, and that the problem will worsen as a result of the “immoral” pay award.

Teachers’ real-terms pay has fallen by 20 per cent since 2010, and the latest blow “contributes to very severe teacher shortages which are affecting the vast majority of schools,” they added. 

The government has confirmed that schools will have to fund the increase from their own already-overstretched budgets.

The unions said: “Schools will have to foot the bill for the pay award from budgets which are already under severe strain. This follows a decade of real-terms cuts.” 

ASCL general secretary Geoff Barton said: “The government has managed at a single stroke to put schools on the brink of a full-blown funding crisis. It is a masterclass in mismanagement that puts educational standards at risk.” 

NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said: “It is a reckless gamble with the future of the country.” 

And Patrick Roach of NASUWT said: “By failing to give schools additional funding whilst also rejecting the re-introduction of national pay scales, the government is subjecting hundreds of thousands of hardworking and dedicated teachers to a pay lottery.”

Helen Osgood, national officer at Community, said: “It’s immoral to treat people like this, constantly dangling the carrot and never delivering on their promises.”

A Department for Education spokesperson claimed: “This year’s pay award is a responsible solution which recognises the hard work of teachers and supports with the cost of living, and the sound management of schools’ budgets.”

The spokesperson said double-digit pay awards in the public sector would “lead to sustained higher levels of inflation.”

But research by the Unite union has demonstrated that inflation is being driven by corporate profits, which were 73 per cent higher for the FTSE 350 last year than in 2019. By contrast British wages are facing the biggest squeeze among the G7 group of rich countries.