Teachers in Scotland have been offered a new pay deal.

The revised offer, agreed by the Scottish Government and COSLA, is:

2022-23

• 6% for all staff earning up to £80,000 from 1 April 2022
• £4,800 for all those earning in excess of £80,000

2023-24

• 5.5% for all staff earning up to £80,000 from 1 April 2023
• £4,400 for all those earning in excess of £80,000

The new offer was put together at a meeting between COSLA representatives and the Scottish Government on Tuesday 14th of February.

COSLA’s Resources Spokesperson, Councillor Katie Hagmann, commented:

“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.”

The EIS is Scotland’s largest teachers union. It held a special meeting of its Salaries Committee and Executive Committee.

It would be usual for such offers to be arranged in the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT). Instead the offer was announced to the media.

EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said:

“It is unacceptable that details of the revised offer were shared with the media before the offer had been made to teaching unions.

“We eventually received the offer after 9pm on Tuesday, well after the detail of the offer had been reported in the media. It will now be for the EIS Salaries Committee to discuss the terms of that offer and to adopt a position in relation to it.

“In doing so, the Salaries Committee will consider the revisions to the offer in the context of the current cost of living crisis, the continuing extremely high level of inflation which currently sits at almost 13.5% on the RPI scale, and the sharp real-terms decline in the value of teacher pay since 2008.

 “It is regrettable that the details of the revised offer were shared with the media together with snippets of the accompanying narrative before teaching unions had actually received the offer.

“The appropriate place for negotiations to take place, and for proposals to be presented and discussed, is within the SNCT as the agreed negotiating forum for teachers’ pay. It is through the SNCT, not through the media, that an agreement on teacher pay must be struck.

“As bodies with stated commitments to sectoral collective bargaining and the principles of Fair Work, it is unfortunate that both the Scottish Government and COSLA have repeatedly sought to stage discussions outwith the agreed negotiating forum of the SNCT and to create artificial links between negotiations on teachers’ pay and negotiations with other groups of workers.

“If the Scottish Government and COSLA are truly committed to sectoral collective bargaining, as they say they are, then they must respect the agreed appropriate negotiating processes both for teachers and for other public sector workers.”

Under this latest offer, the top of the pay scale for main grade teachers would rise from £42,336 on 1 January 2022 to £47,344 on 1 April 2023. Those at the top of the main grade scale represent around 70% of main grade teachers.

For teachers earning over £80,000, there will be a flat cap increase and, as a result, the net effect will be slightly lower as salary increases. For example, those on the top salary point of £99,609 will receive an increase of 9.2% by April 2023, taking their earnings to around £108,809.

Education Secretary in the Scottish Government Shirley-Anne Somerville said:

“Teachers make an invaluable contribution to the lives of our children and young people. This significant offer, if accepted by unions, would see teacher pay increase by almost 30% since January 2018.

“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 £156 million. This is on top of the £50 million 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. Difficult decisions will have to be made to free up the required resources. This reflects our commitment to reach a fair agreement and avoid further disruption to children and young people’s education.

“I have written to the unions asking that their members are given the opportunity to consider this new offer, which is the fifth to be tabled. While they do so, I have asked that they suspend any planned industrial action. This would minimise any further disruption to learning, particularly in the run up to the SQA exam diet.”