The country’s biggest trust has vowed to fight Labour’s “harmful” plans to end pay freedoms – telling staff that their better pay and conditions are “good for everyone and there is no reason for government to intervene”.
The government’s proposed schools bill would force academies to follow reformed national teacher pay scales and conditions.
Most trusts already match national pay rates, however others have used freedoms to boost teacher pay and conditions.
‘I will defend your better pay’
Sir Jon Coles, chief executive of United Learning, the country’s largest trust which pays staff above national rates, has now told staff: “Attracting and keeping the best people has been critical to the improvement of our schools – so paying more and offering more flexibility is not only right for us and right for you but most importantly it is right for children.
“So l am clear that my responsibility is to do all I can to defend your terms and conditions. They are good for everyone and there is no reason for government to intervene.”
In a letter to staff, seen by Schools Week, he added that UL is working with other affected trusts to push back against the proposals.
Coles said staff had “understandably expressed concern” about their pay being affected by the plans.
As well as paying staff above national pay rates, United Learning offers other additional benefits such as termly planning days and personal days. It is also consulting on controversial plans to offer teachers a pay boost for a less generous pension scheme.
Many staff had “opted into our contracts rather than stay on national terms – or have joined or stayed with us partly because we offer more pay and more time (termly planning days, personal days and so on) as well as more support”, Coles added.
DfE rules out pay cuts
A spokesperson for the Department for Education categorically ruled out teachers seeing their pay cut as a result of the changes.
“No teacher will have their pay cut,” a spokesperson said.
They said the government instead wants to “spread the benefits” that academies have on pay flexibility “throughout the system”.
Ministers will ask the pay review body to “make recommendations on changes to the national framework to enable greater flexibility, including for new teachers, before it is applied across all schools”.
Coles said in the letter there are “some reasons to be hopeful that government is recognising that flexibility in pay and conditions is a good rather than a bad thing”.
But his wider comments will put ministers under more pressure to provide clarity on how their proposals will not leave some staff worse off.
For instance, now a pay cut has been ruled out, Coles said on Twitter another way to get staff on a consistent pay level would be to use “mark time pay”.
This allows employees to keep existing salaries when they are higher than the band for their role. But it means their pay is effectively capped until the lesser salary catches up.
When asked about this, the DfE said it would not pre-empt the teacher pay body’s recommendations.
There appears to be little difference in teacher pay by school type.
In 2023-24, the median salary for a classroom teacher was £44,870 in secondary academies and £44,677 in LA-maintained secondaries, government workforce data shows.
The median salary was the same in primary academies and maintained schools, at £41,333.
Pay for academy leaders has risen – but the proposal would not cover academy trust executive pay, over which Phillipson has expressed misgivings.
Schools Week’s latest CEO pay league tables found 44 now paid more than £200,000 – up 50 per cent in five years. The highest is paid £485,000.
‘Unions advocating for harmful policy’
Coles has now urged staff to enlist the support of their union to raise concerns.
But he added “there is a serious risk that currently the unions appear to be advocating a policy which is harmful to some of their members while benefiting none of them”.
The National Education Union, for instance, has said it “fully supports” plans for all teachers to be covered by the same pay and conditions framework.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, added this would enable “teacher mobility across the school system and is obviously fairer, by making sure all teachers work under the same protections”.
The Confederation of School Trusts, which represents trusts, said it is “absolutely crucial for the government to work with employers to get this right. We do not underestimate how difficult this will be.”
In a letter to members, seen by Schools Week, CST boss Leora Cruddas added “in doing all of this, there is a risk that the loss of these freedoms makes it more difficult for trusts to do the hard work of improving schools in the most challenging circumstances in parts of the country where failure was previously endemic”.
“If this is truly about bringing the freedoms and flexibilities to all types of employers in a more mature school sector, a sector that works together, then we could get the provisions in the bill to a better place,” she added.
“But if this is to be the case, then the government must help us put a stop to all attempts by those who seek to undermine academy trusts.”
A DfE spokesperson said the bill will “give all children the opportunity to have expert teachers they need, by providing a transparent, guaranteed pay and conditions offer across all state schools”.
Labour said its plans would mean “every school teacher will have the same core pay and conditions offer”.
Any changes to academy freedoms would not be introduced until September 2026.
