Plans for strike action will be drawn up by the UK’s largest teaching union when its executive meets this evening, Sky News has learnt.

The special executive of the National Education Union (NEU) will map out a number of scenarios in a full ballot for industrial action while it waits for a final pay offer from the government.

The Department for Education (DfE) has proposed a 2.8% pay rise for the 2025/26 financial year, saying it was an “appropriate” offer that would “maintain the competitiveness” of teachers’ pay despite a “challenging financial backdrop”.

It comes on top of the 5.5% pay rise accepted by teachers last year for 2024/25, which followed eight days of strikes in England in 2023.

However, the NEU, led by general secretary Daniel Kebede, has rejected the 2.8% offer as “unacceptable” and “unfunded”.

Instead, the union is calling for a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise – although it has not put a figure on the proposal it would like to receive.

Mr Kebede has also criticised the government for suggesting schools could pay for it by making “efficiencies” in their budgets, saying schools have already faced years of cuts.

‘Anger and fear about what is happening in education’

The government will only finalise its offer once it has received the recommendations of the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), which makes recommendations on the pay of school teachers in England.

The DfE has not yet published the STRB recommendations or its decision on whether to accept them – but it is expected that this will happen imminently.

A source on the executive told Sky News there was “real clarity about the impact of an unfunded pay award”, adding: “There is a lot of anger and fear about what is happening in education.”

They said any potential strike action, if approved, would be targeted at the first half of the autumn term and so would be unlikely to affect student exams.

In an indicative electronic ballot that was launched at the beginning of March, 93.7% of NEU respondents turned down the proposed 2.8% pay rise, while 83% of teachers said they would be willing to take industrial action to secure a better deal.

However, the result was achieved on a turnout of 47.2% – lower than what would be needed if the union’s formal ballot is to be successful.

Under trade union legislation, the NEU must achieve a turnout of 50% in both the teacher and support staff ballots. Some 40% of those eligible to vote must back strike action for it to go ahead.

The government has promised to repeal the 2016 Trade Union Act but has delayed the process until after electronic balloting has been introduced.

Read more:
Teaching unions gear up for fight over AI job-loss fears
‘Andrew Tate phenomena’ surges in schools

The source on the NEU executive said: “The decision of the NEU conference was that schools can’t afford an unfunded pay rise – we are already seeing redundancies in London and that situation is going to be dire next year.

“Schools are suffering an improvement and retention crisis, morale is bad and teaching is not high on the list of well-paid graduate jobs.”

They said that as well as pay, teachers were also concerned about the new Ofsted inspection system and the impact AI could have on de-skilling the profession and job losses.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “With school staff, parents and young people working so hard to turn the tide on school attendance, any move towards industrial action by teaching unions would be indefensible.

“Following a 5.5% pay award in hugely challenging fiscal context, I would urge NEU to put children first.”

The NEU has been approached for comment.