Teachers in Wales could get 3.7% pay rise

Proposals include an 8.4% rise for new starters and 2.75% increase for head teachers

Teachers in Wales could receive a pay rise of 3.75%

Education Minister Kirsty Williams has proposed the rise for teachers on the main pay scale.

She also proposed increasing starting salaries for new teachers by 8.48%, and a 2.75% increase for head teachers, deputy and assistant heads and unqualified teachers.

But a teaching union said the proposals did not address a "real-terms decline" in pay.

It would mean an overall increase of 3.1% for the teachers' pay bill in Wales.

The starting salary for new teachers would be over £27,000.

A new statutory five-point pay scale would also be introduced, so new teachers would advance to the maximum of the main pay range in four years - a year quicker than has previously been the case.

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An eight-week consultation will be carried out before the final pay deal is agreed.

The proposals follow the publication of the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body (IWPRB) report.

The Welsh Government said the minister had accepted in principle all of the report's main recommendations and has also proposed further enhancements to ensure teachers in Wales receive the same increase as those in England.

The proposals would also see an end to performance-related pay progression and the reintroduction of national pay scales.

This is the second year the education minister has received advice on teacher pay from the IWPRB.

Education Minister Kirsty Williams says she wants to attract "high quality teachers"

Ms Williams said: "These proposed changes will help enable the development of a distinct national system that is fairer and more transparent for all teachers in Wales.

"This is only the second year since these powers were devolved and it is already clear that the approach here in Wales is developing very differently to that adopted previously."

She said the Welsh Government had a "determination to promote teaching as a profession of choice for graduates and career changers".

"I believe these changes to pay and conditions will continue to attract high quality teachers to the profession in Wales," she said.

The teachers' union NASUWT said the proposals "still fall short of what is needed to redress the year on year real-terms decline in teachers' pay since 2010".

Head teachers' union NAHT Cymru said an "unfunded pay rise" meant "an anxious summer for school leaders in Wales as they decide what or who they have to cut to afford pay increases for their staff - or if they even need to lose some people to pay the rest more."

National Education Union Cymru said the increase to starting salaries would make teaching more attractive to graduates but added: "The prospect of salaries tapering off as they progress through the profession means that progress made in recruiting teachers might not be sustained in retaining them."