Teachers reject 9% pay rise for new starters and warn offer would not be enough to stop strikes

Teachers’ leaders have immediately rejected a reported 9 per cent pay rise proposed for new starters as ministers try to head off a series of strikes across the UK.

The increase, alongside a 5 per cent raise for more experienced staff, has reportedly been proposed by the education secretary Nadhim Zahawi in a letter to the chancellor Rishi Sunak.

But Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the National Education Union, said it was “not enough, it is still a pay cut”, although she added that it would be “a start.”