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Schools face having to axe staff to afford teacher pay rises, ­heads have warned.

Under a recent Government pay settlement, teachers will get up to 3.5% extra, which ministers have boasted is “fully funded” through a £508million grant.

But an open letter from four union chiefs to PM Theresa May and Chancellor Philip Hammond says schools must cover the first 1% from their own budgets, already at “breaking point”.

Without extra funding, they fear schools will have to cut working hours or make staff redundant to afford it.

(Image: Getty)

Kevin Courtney, of the National Education Union, said: “We had to write this letter to put a stop to the misinfor­mation the teacher pay award has been fully funded.”

Paul Whiteman, of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the £508million funding for the pay award would come from existing Department for ­Education budgets. He added: “There’s no new money.”

The unions also say while the lowest-paid teachers will get 3.5% extra, some 60%, will get below-inflation rises of 1.5% or 2% – after real terms pay cuts of 10% since 2005.

And they insist that while the Tories claim schools are receiving “more money than ever”, funding has been slashed in real terms by 8% per pupil over eight years.

(Image: PA)

Angela Rayner, Shadow Education Secretary, last night said: “Theresa May should listen when the people who teach our children say that our schools simply cannot cope with more austerity.

“Instead, she has overseen cuts to budgets and refused to fully fun Earlier this year, figures showed the number of secondary schools in England running at a loss had nearly trebled in four years."

Earlier this year, figures showed the number of secondary schools in England running at a loss had nearly trebled in four years.

The study, published by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) in March, said the number of local council-run secondary schools in deficit dropped from 14.3% in 2010/11 to 8.8% in 2013/14, but between 2013/14 and 2016/17, the numbers in deficit nearly trebled to 26.1%.

Jon Andrews, Deputy Head of Research at the Education Policy Institute (EPI), said: “Our research has found a significant rise in the number of secondary schools in financial difficulty. Over 60% of schools are now spending more money than they have coming in and, over the last four years, the number of local authority secondary schools that are in the red has tripled to over a quarter of schools.

“Two thirds of school budgets is spent on teaching and support staff and so many schools will struggle to make further savings without also reducing staff numbers. Any staff cutbacks could affect the curriculum offered by schools, class sizes and wider support services.”

In July, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said total school spending per pupil fell around 8% in real terms in England between 2009/10 and 2017/18 the pay award teachers need after years of real terms cuts.”

A Department for Education spokesman said:"There is more money going into schools than ever before, rising to a record £43.5 billion by 2020 – 50% more in real terms per pupil than in 2000.

“Every school attracts more funding per pupil through the National Funding Formula and high needs funding will rise to over £6 billion next year too.

"On top of this, the 3.5% pay rise we announced in July for classroom teachers is being backed by £508 million of government funding over this year and next.

“We know that we are asking schools to do more, which is why we are helping them to reduce the £10 billion spent each year on non-staffing costs, providing government-backed deals for things like printers and energy suppliers that are helping to save millions of pounds.”

Read the letter in full here

We are writing to draw your attention to the impact on students of significant real terms funding cuts and the demoralising effect on many staff of the government’s recent pay settlement.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies has shown school funding has been cut by 8% per pupil over the past eight years.

This has resulted in rising class sizes, and schools have had no option other than to make cuts to the curriculum, enrichment activities and the support many pupils and their families rely on.

(Image: PA)

Since 2010, 537,885 more pupils have joined state schools, yet recruitment is not keeping pace with demand. Teachers’ salaries in England fell about 10% in real terms between 2005 and 2017. Despite the evidence that an improvement in pay is urgently needed, your government has ignored its own independent pay review body with the result that less than half the teaching workforce will receive the recommended 3.5%.

Furthermore, the pay award is not fully funded, with schools expected to find the first 1% from budgets which are already at breaking point.

Our grave concern is that the only way that schools will be able to afford the pay award this year is by making cuts to the hours that people work, or by making redundancies.

This only harms the pupils. Recommendations of the School Teachers’ Review Body must be met in full and the cost must be fully funded by the government.

Yours, Geoff Barton, general secretary ASCL, Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary NEU, Kevin Courtney,

joint general secretary NEU, Paul Whiteman, general secretary NAHT