Jobs could go and class sizes get bigger because the 1.75% teachers’ pay award in Wales is not being fully funded, the body representing school leaders has warned.
Schools in some areas are being left to pick up the tab and will be forced to make cuts, the Association of School and College Leaders said.
Four local education authorities have not helped fund the 1.75% teacher pay increase which was agreed by the Welsh Government on recommendation from the independent Welsh Pay Review Body last autumn.
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In a Freedom of Information request to all 22 local councils in Wales the Association of School and College Leaders Cymru has been told Flintshire , Wrexham , Vale of Glamorgan and Conwy have not fully funded the pay rise.
ASCL Cymru Director Eithne Hughes said this will impact on already stretched school budgets and warned of a “potential funding crisis for schools”. She called on the Welsh Government to fully fund the rise.
There has been no extra funding to Wales for a teachers’ pay rise from Whitehall this financial year.
The Welsh Government agreed an across the board 1.75% pay rise for teachers in Wales in September 2021, at the same time announcing £6.4 million of additional funding to local authorities as a grant to pay for 0.75% of the increase. Councils are required to fund the remaining 1% of the rise from within their existing budgets.
When ASCL Cymru asked the 22 councils if they would be funding the remaining 1% four told them they would not. Councils are themselves grappling with tight budgets.
ASCL said of the four, Conwy has not added any funding to the Welsh Government grant. Flintshire has passed on the grant and provided an additional 0.5% (bringing the funding increase to 1.25%) while Wrexham and Vale of Glamorgan have used the grant to top up their original budget allocations, bringing the increase to 1% and 1.5% respectively.
Schools in the four local authority areas, all of which represent populations in excess of 100,000 people, will now be forced to use their own budgets to top up the local authority allocations and fund the full pay increase to their staff, ASCL said.
Leader of Conwy County Borough Council, Cllr Charlie McCoubrey called on the Welsh Government to fully fund the rise, the cost of which he said would affect other budgets.
Cllr McCoubrey said: “I would strongly agree with the call for Welsh Government to fully fund well-deserved pay rises for teachers. Passing the burden onto existing council budgets ultimately means removing money from other essential services or increasing the level of council tax.”
Ms Hughes warned: “There could be redundancies and larger class sizes. Schools can’t operate in a vacuum. The money has to be found to pay tachers’ salaries. We should not have a situation where devolved pay is devolved again to local level.”
She said the pay award did little to help recover many years of below inflation increases but now schools face a second blow.
“To now find that four of the biggest local authorities in Wales have failed to deliver on their share of the increase is a double-whammy for schools in those areas, who are being forced to dig into their already tight budgets in order to ensure their staff receive the pay rise they have been promised.
“This is nothing short of scandalous and demonstrates the in-built inequalities of a pay system that has very little logic to it and allows some local authorities to wilfully renege on their commitment to the teaching profession.”
And she singled out Conwy for criticism: “Quite how councillors in Conwy can live with themselves is beyond me, having unenviably placed their county as the only one in Wales to flagrantly ignore the nationally-agreed pay increase.
“Councillors in Flintshire, Vale of Glamorgan and Wrexham have at least acknowledged their responsibilities but fallen well short of the funding support needed and passed the buck, literally, to schools that are already under immense budgetary pressures as a result of the pandemic.
“The costs of bringing in support staff to cover for the teachers absent from the classroom due to Covid are huge and having to top up pay for their teachers will pile on further unwanted and unnecessary pressure.
“Schools have worked incredibly hard throughout the pandemic to maintain education for our learners and, quite frankly, deserve better from the very people who are there to support them."
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: "Funding of teachers’ pay is a matter for local authorities. However, in recognition of the exceptional circumstances, we provided an additional £6.4 million to support local authorities with their teacher pay awards.
"We are also providing a 9.4% rise in funding to local authorities next financial year, on average, which will help ensure staff receive well-deserved pay rises.
“We fully recognise the pressures local authorities are facing and will continue to work closely with local government to meet our shared challenges.”
Ms Hughes called for changes in the teacher pay system.
“The existing teacher pay system in Wales will continue to fail schools through the wilfully unfair decisions of a minority of those in power at local authority level. The only way this can be avoided in future is for the Welsh government to draw a line under this ridiculous funding system and fully fund pay rises for teachers in future.”
Flintshire, Wrexham, Vale of Glamorgan and Conwy councils were asked to comment.
How much are teachers getting and when?
Teachers in Wales are getting a 1.75% pay rise backdated to September 1 2021 with an extra £6.4m given to councils from the Welsh Government to help pay for it.
Education Minister Jeremy Miles accepted 12 recommendations on teachers’ pay from an independent panel last autumn.
The £14.87m package will have to be met from within existing local authority budgets, only slightly cushioned by the £6.4m additional funding. That £6.4m extra was agreed by Welsh Government after councils said they did not have enough money to cover the raise.
There has been no extra funding for a teachers’ pay rise this year from Whitehall this year.
The rise is less than the latest rate of inflation but better than the situation for teachers in England where a pay freeze has been recommended.
This is the third year that teachers’ pay has been devolved to Wales.
Flintshire, Wrexham, Vale of Glamorgan and Conwy councils were asked to comment.
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