Teachers’ pay award: Govt “building castles in the sky” if they think schools can fund rise

EMBARGO: Immediate Release

Responding to Bridget Phillipson’s statement on a pay award for teachers, Munira Wilson MP, Liberal Democrat Education, Children and Families Spokesperson, said:

“The Government is building castles in the sky if it thinks that schools have any more “efficiencies” to make.

“By deciding not to fully fund this pay rise, the Government are gouging millions out of threadbare school pockets. When schools are already struggling to make ends meet — forced to strip out vital subjects and ask teachers and parents to pay personally for classroom essentials — this could cause a tidal wave of redundancies.

“The Government must commit to fully funding the pay recommendations they’ve made or admit they’re making hollow promises that will worsen, not improve, the crisis in our schools.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

Please find the statement linked below. The Government are asking schools to fund the first 1% of the pay award, a value of approximately £200m. https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2025-05-22/hcws664