Regional pay will be high on the agenda of education union UCAC’s annual conference in Cardiff this weekend.
The Westminster Government has the current England-and-Wales system for setting teachers’ pay and conditions within its sights with the aim of “making pay more market-facing for teachers.”
Elaine Edwards, UCAC’s General Secretary said “The Government wants to introduce a system that would pay less to teachers in disadvantaged areas for doing the same job as those in more affluent parts of the country.”
“That isn’t fair to individual teachers or to the profession, and it’s likely to cause shortages of teachers in areas where salaries are lower. These changes will either lead to protracted and acrimonious negotiations about all over the country about local pay levels, or otherwise a decision by the Westminster Government that Welsh teachers should earn less than the vast majority of teachers in England.”
“UCAC members can’t see any sense in a system like that, and the strength of their feelings will be plain to hear during the Conference this weekend.”
