The Tory Education Secretary has been blasted after insisting a £28k salary puts teachers in the “top 10% of earners” in parts of Britain.
Gillian Keegan was branded “staggeringly out of touch” after making the “complacent” comments in a live radio interview.
Government figures show someone on a £28,000 salary is in the top 45% of UK taxpayers - people who earn £12,800 or more, rather than all earners.
Nationally the top 10% of taxpayers were on £58,000 or more per year, according to the figures from 2019/20.
But Ms Keegan told LBC radio: “My cousin has just started teaching and she is on £28,000. She is 23 and lives in Knowsley.
“She is single and lives with her mum and dad but the reality is that she is in a good career.
"It's probably within the top 10% of earners in some parts of the country."
It comes as teachers are balloted over whether to join the wave of pay strikes already engulfing nurses, paramedics, railways, Border Force and Royal Mail.
Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson hit back: “These are staggeringly out-of-touch comments from an Education Secretary who is clearly complacent about the teacher recruitment and retention crisis happening in our schools.
“Teachers are leaving the profession in droves because they are overworked and underappreciated by this Conservative Government.
“While potential new recruits are turning away from a career in our classrooms.
“ Labour will boost working conditions for our teaching workforce by recruiting 6,500 more teachers, paid for by ending tax breaks for private schools.”
It was not immediately clear what statistics Ms Keegan was referring to, but she was defending plans to make a teacher’s starting salary £30,000 by 2024.
Facing questions from teachers and parents on LBC radio on Wednesday, she said the Government had agreed to union demands to increase funding for schools.
But she was told it was not enough and that conditions also had to change.
One teacher from Bromley, Kent, told her: "The fact that teachers are one of the higher paid public servants in this country, as a low-wage economy, I think that is something more shameful than something to celebrate.
"I know how far my wages go each month, I know many people who have second and third jobs because they cannot make ends meet.”
Teaching unions the NASUWT, National Education Union and National Association of Head Teachers are all balloting members on strike action with results in January.
Ms Keegan said: "I hope teachers do not vote to strike but that is their right. What we are trying to do is make sure we do not bake in inflation.
"If we can stabilise the economy we will be seeing inflation coming down next year. It's really serious because you cannot spend your way out of it, you will end up with spiralling inflation and if you spend extra money it will just be eaten up by rent and other things."
She said £2bn had been allocated for schools in the Autumn Statement but was told by one teacher from Birmingham: "It's not just about the money, it's about conditions.
"Teachers are leaving in droves, in comparison to the inflation and the 12 years of austerity, it's still not enough."
