The Labour government has been accused of using savings from public sector pension contributions to help fund a £500mn pay increase for teachers, in a move that has triggered a backlash from a union representing school support staff.
The GMB, which represents more than 100,000 support staff in schools, said ministers were effectively using savings generated by a reduction in pension contributions to cover part of the cost of the teachers’ pay award.
Stacey Booth, GMB national officer, described the approach as “disgusting” and argued that some of the lowest-paid workers in education were being made to subsidise higher-paid colleagues.
“School support staff are already paid a pittance for nurturing, feeding and helping to educate our children.
“To take money from their pensions to give others a pay rise is completely disgusting.”
Booth also criticised ministers directly, saying: “Ministers should be ashamed of themselves – if they can’t fund a pay rise they should have the guts to admit it rather than stealing the money of others.”
She added: “Meanwhile anyone who celebrates a pay rise that takes money away from the poorest paid group in education is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and should take a long hard look at themselves.”
The dispute centres on the 3.5 per cent increase in teachers’ pay confirmed by ministers in July, which took effect this month.
The National Education Union had lobbied for the increase to be fully funded by the government and had threatened industrial action if schools were required to absorb a significant portion of the cost.
Under the original funding arrangements, about half of the 2026-27 pay increase was due to be covered by additional government funding, with schools expected to finance the remaining 1.8 per cent from existing budgets.
The NEU had estimated that schools would need to find about £460mn to meet their share of the increase.
However, in a letter sent on Wednesday to NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede, Education Secretary Lucy Powell confirmed that schools would be allowed to use savings generated by lower pension contributions to meet the cost.
Those savings are estimated at about £500mn, broadly matching the amount schools had been expected to find from their own budgets.
The GMB is meeting Powell to raise its concerns over the policy, while the government has stressed that the teachers’ pay award itself has not changed.
Ministers argue that the adjustment to pension contributions makes the pay increase more manageable for schools “at a national level”.
The NEU welcomed the decision, saying it amounted to “a fully funded pay increase for all teachers throughout England” and calling it “a significant step”.
The row highlights a broader tension within the education budget: how to increase teachers’ pay while protecting the pay, pensions and staffing levels of the wider school workforce.
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