Teachers in England and Wales were awarded an above-inflation pay rise of 3.7 per cent yesterday but the main teachers' union condemned the announcement, warning it would not stem the teacher shortage in some parts of the country.
With the British government's commitment to public services likely to play a major part in the forthcoming general election campaign, the Education Secretary, Mr David Blunkett, announced that from April new teachers would have their pay boosted by 6 per cent, starting on a salary of £17,000. Teachers with up to nine years' experience will have their pay increased from £24,000 to £26,900 and, reflecting the high cost of living in London and the south-east of England, new teachers in the region will start on £20,000 with £30,000 for experienced teachers. Headteachers will be allowed to award performance-related pay bonuses of up to £5,000.
But the National Union of Teachers (NUT), which has demanded a 12.5 per cent pay rise and an independent inquiry into teachers' pay, said the pay increase would not address the problem of teacher shortages.
The NUT's general secretary, Mr Doug McAvoy, said: "If the government thinks that a 3.7 per cent increase in the pay bill will deal with the recruitment crisis it really is living in another world."
The Shadow Education Secretary, Ms Theresa May, welcomed the pay rise but said the public would not be fooled by the fact that the deal would be funded by an increase of 10 per cent in local council tax rates.
While the number of teachers in schools has risen by 7,500 since 1998 there are still 1,420 teaching vacancies at primary and nursery level and 1,250 vacancies in secondary schools in England and Wales.
In a separate development yesterday, the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr John Prescott, and the Transport Commissioner for London, Mr Bob Kiley, ended months of division by reaching a compromise on the government's controversial plans for the part-privatisation of the Underground. The public-private partnership plan was bitterly opposed by the Mayor of London, Mr Ken Livingstone, and Mr Kiley.
But both sides claimed victory after Mr Livingstone dropped his demand for modernisation of the system to be funded by bonds and the government said Mr Kiley would be allowed to develop modifications to a new bidding process for private contracts to run trains.