Council bosses agree new teacher pay offer

Council leaders have agreed on a new pay offer for teachers, with extra cash from the Scottish government.

The government says it has found £156m to fund a two-year deal.

The new offer involves a 6% pay rise in the current year and a further 5.5% in the new financial year, which starts in April.

The largest teaching union, the EIS, has been striking for a 10% rise this year.

Employers - represented by the local government body Cosla - have presented their offer as an 11.5% rise over two years.

The government said it would mean an overall increase of more than £5,000 over two years for the 70% of classroom teachers who are at the top of their main grade pay scale.

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It is not clear if this package would be enough to end the dispute, with a series of further strikes - including some targeting the constituencies of senior ministers - already scheduled.

The Scottish government has previously said it had no more money and would have to raid other budgets to pay for an increased offer.

Their £156m for teachers is part of a pot of around £300m which would also enable councils to offer their other staff a 5.5% pay rise in 2023/24.

The previous pay offer, made in November, was worth between 5% and 6.85% for most staff.

Teachers are next due to strike on 28 February and 1 March

EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said the union was still awaiting written notification of a revised offer.

She said: "It is unacceptable that details of a revised offer have been shared with the media before the offer has been made to teaching unions.

"Once we eventually receive the offer, it will then be for the EIS salaries committee to discuss the terms of that offer and to adopt a position in relation to it."

Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said the offer "would see teacher pay increase by almost 30% since January 2018".

Ms Somerville said she had written to the unions asking them to suspend planned industrial action while their members consider the new offer.

She said: "While union demands for an in-year 10% increase are unaffordable within the Scottish government's fixed budget, we have looked for compromise and we have arrived at a deal that is fair, affordable, and sustainable for everyone involved.

"The Scottish government is supporting this new offer with additional funding of £156m.

"This is on top of the £50m that we have already provided to local authorities in support of an enhanced pay offer for teachers.

"The offer is being made at a time of extraordinary financial pressure on the Scottish government budget."

Teachers unions are likely to respond formally to the new pay offer on Wednesday.

They will decide whether to put it to their members and whether to call off the next strikes.

But the offer seems to fall well below the aspirations of the unions.

They wanted a 10% rise backdated to April covering the 2022/23 financial year.

The new headline offer for this period is 6%.

The pay offer covering the 2023/24 financial year is a distinct issue for them.

The Scottish government and councils say they have compromised and hope unions will too.

But will unions be prepared to accept an offer which is still well below the one they have been campaigning for?

Cosla's resources spokesperson, councillor Katie Hagmann, said: "Given the funding assurances received from the Scottish government, leaders have agreed to submit a revised offer to the trade unions tonight.

"Cosla leaders are clear that it is in all of our interests, not least those of children, young people and families, to conclude the teachers' pay negotiations as quickly as we can to bring back stability and certainty in our schools.

"We are determined to provide a fair and affordable pay offer to all our employees, including teachers.

"In that regard, following today's meeting leaders agreed to mandate me to take a refreshed offer to the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) and we hope that this is acceptable to them."

The next national strike action is due to be held on 28 February and 1 March.

The EIS is also planning strikes in a number of areas, including the Glasgow constituency of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the Dunfermline constituency of Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville.

The EIS salaries committee and executive committee will meet on Wednesday to discuss a response to the offer and the potential implications for upcoming strike action in schools.

The ongoing dispute centres on the pay rise which teachers were due to receive in April last year.

The most recent offer was made before the first strike by the EIS union in November.

Nearly all pupils in Scotland have lost three or four days' worth of education since then.