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Members of the NEU teaching union have said in an indicative ballot that they would be prepared to take industrial action over pay and funding for schools.

However, fewer than half (48.6 per cent) of eligible teacher members voted in the indicative ballot. Unions need to have at least 50 per cent of eligible members voting in order to carry out industrial action through a formal ballot.

Of those who voted, more than nine in 10 (96 per cent) said they rejected the Department for Education’s recommended pay rise of 6.5 per cent over three years for teachers.

And 90.5 per cent said they would be prepared to take industrial action.

NEU ballot

The union’s teacher members were asked if they were willing to take industrial action to win sufficient funding to secure an above-inflation pay increase, reduce workload and defend existing directed time provisions, including the 1,265 hours limit.

Support staff members of the union also voted in an indicative ballot over whether they would be prepared to take industrial action over funding, workload and redundancies.

More than eight in 10 (86.1 per cent) support staff members who voted said they would be prepared to take industrial action, from a turnout of 55.5 per cent.

School funding

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “This government seems intent on attacking our schools. That is why our members have indicated they are willing to take whatever action is necessary to save education.”

The NEU launched the indicative ballot on 28 February.

Teaching unions have criticised the DfE’s recommendation that teachers should receive a 6.5 per cent pay increase over the next three years.

Mr Kebede added: “It is an inescapable fact that schools are running on empty. More than 15 years of real-terms funding cuts have left us on our knees. Resources have dwindled while workload has increased in intensity.

“Retention rates for teachers and support staff are dire - schools are desperately short of teaching assistants and subject specialists. It feels like there is no help coming.”

Workforce cuts

He added: “To add insult to injury, schools will be given no new money to fund staff pay. This will mean more cuts - cuts to support staff jobs, cuts to subject choices, cuts to basic resources, cuts that damage children’s education.”

Mr Kebede warned at the NEU’s annual conference that many teachers feel their hope in Labour “slipping away”, and said the NEU would deliver national strike action to save school funding if needed.

Delegates at the NASUWT teaching union’s annual conference also voted for a motion calling for a national strike ballot if the government does not provide more funding for schools and special educational needs and disabilities support, and take action to cut teacher workload.

Teacher pay

Teachers got a 4 per cent pay rise for the 2025-26 academic year. This followed a 5.5 per cent rise in 2024-25, and a 6.5 per cent rise for 2023-24 after the NEU went on strike.

At the NEU’s annual conference in Brighton last month, Mr Kebede pledged to take national industrial action to “save education”. 

In an exclusive interview with ����Vlog, Mr Kebede said he was “disappointed” by the country’s current leadership, and later said that the Green Party’s vision for education “perfectly mirrors” the NEU’s.