TRR 20
__________________________________________________________________________
Cyflwynwyd
yr ymateb hwn i'r
Pwyllgor Plant, Pobl Ifanc ac Addysg
ar gyfer yr
ymchwiliad i recriwtio a chadw athrawon
This response was submitted to
the Children,
Young People and Education Committee
on the
Inquiry into Teacher recruitment and
retention
Ymateb gan: Corff Adolygu Cyflogau Annibynnol Cymru
Response from: Independent Welsh Pay Review
Body
__________________________________________________________________________
5 June 2025
Dear Buffy,
Inquiry into teacher recruitment and retention
Please find enclosed evidence from the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body in response to the Inquiry into teacher recruitment and retention. Please do contact us should you wish for further information or further discussion.
Yours Sincerely
Sharron Lusher
S K Lusher MBE DL
Secretariat@iwprb.wales
Information from the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body
1. Background
1.1 The Independent Welsh Pay Review Body (IWPRB) was established in March 2019 as an independent body with the responsibility to make recommendations to the Welsh Government on the pay and conditions of school teachers and leaders in Wales.
1.2 The responsibility for setting teachers’ and leaders’ pay and conditions in Wales transferred to the Welsh Ministers from 30th September 2018 under the Welsh Ministers (Transfer of Functions) Order 2018. The IWPRB reports to the Cabinet Secretary for Education, who issues a remit letter annually to the IWPRB.
1.3 The IWPRB is pleased to provide information to the Inquiry on Teacher Recruitment and Retention, based on findings from recent reports.
2. The work of the IWPRB, and its Sixth Remit (2025)
2.1. Following the receipt of its annual remit letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Education, the IWPRB engages in statutory consultation. It receives both written and oral evidence from consultees, as prescribed by legislation. It is provided with data and information relevant to the content of the remit letter. The IWPRB has submitted six reports to the Cabinet Secretary and her predecessors since 2019, on adjustments to salaries, allowance ranges and conditions of service for teachers and leaders in Wales.
2.2. The remit letter from the Minister for Education and Welsh Language of December 2021 required the IWPRB to produce a strategic review of the structure of teachers’ and leaders’ pay and conditions in Wales. The strategic review was published on 9th April 2024.
2.3. The IWPRB’s report on supply teachers in Wales was published on 18th April 2024. This report focused on the roles and responsibilities of supply teachers in Wales who are employed directly by local authorities or schools.
2.4. The Cabinet Secretary for Education issued the sixth remit letter to the IWPRB on 27th January 2025. The following matter was referred to the IWPRB: “What adjustments should be made to the salary and allowance ranges for classroom teachers, unqualified teachers, and school leaders, to ensure the teaching profession in Wales is promoted and rewarded to encourage the recruitment and retention of high-quality practitioners?”
2.5. The IWPRB submitted its report to the Cabinet Secretary on 21st May 2025 as required. The Cabinet Secretary will publish this report, together with her recommendation, following which further consultation will take place.
2.6. The Cabinet Secretary referred a further matter to the IWPRB for recommendation following submission of the 21 May 2025 report: “What adjustments should be made to Leaders’ Conditions of Service, and in particular, the consideration of whether guaranteed working hours (or limits on), as well as protected holiday entitlement and weekends for leaders, should be included in the STPC(W)D?” The IWPRB is shortly to consult on this matter.
2.7. In her remit letter, the Cabinet Secretary required the IWPRB to have particular regard for the following considerations:
· The need to ensure consistent and reasonable pay arrangements that encourage teacher professionalism, together with supporting recruitment and retention of sufficient quality and quantity of teachers and leaders.
· Recruitment and retention data.
· Wider economic and labour market conditions, including the public sector financial context.
· Identification of the cost of any proposed changes to pay and conditions.
· A need for coherence across the teachers’ pay system in Wales, providing simplification and standardisation that can be applied to all teachers and school leaders in Wales
2.8. The letter asked that the IWPRB should also have regard to relevant legal obligations of relevant bodies, particularly equalities legislation relating to: age, disability, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, or pregnancy and maternity.
2.9. In the following paragraphs, the IWPRB presents some of its findings from recent reports.
3. Recent findings
3.1. When considering its recommendation on adjustments to salaries and allowances, the IWPRB is asked to have particular regard for recruitment and retention data. Our most recent report continues to raise concerns about the recruitment of teachers and leaders, upholding views held by most consultees. Our review of consultee responses and analysis of the data supports the need to address these issues with urgency.
3.2. Whilst data received by the Education Workforce Council (EWC) from the Initial Teacher Education (ITE) partnerships indicates that primary allocations were exceeded by 9.6% for 2024-2025, each year from 2018-2019 onwards, secondary ITE entrants have fallen short of the allocation. Data for 2024-2025 indicates a 63.5% secondary shortfall, with 385 ITE students recruited against an allocation of 1,056. Issues are particularly evident in certain priority areas and within the Welsh medium sector (please note that the data is obtained from ITE partnerships on behalf of the Welsh Government and therefore is not verified at the time of writing).
3.3. Chart 1 illustrates a five-year trend of the percentages of postgraduate ITE allocations met by phase. This shows that primary targets have been overachieved in the last five years. However, the shortfall in recruitment for secondary has been increasing over the same period.
Chart 1
Percentage of postgraduate ITE allocations met, by phase, Wales 2020/21 – 2024/25
Source: EWC
3.4. Chart 2 shows the percentage of postgraduate ITE allocation met by priority subject (secondary school ITE). The data shows a downward trend in allocations met for mathematics, chemistry, and modern foreign languages (MFL) since 2020-2021. In contrast, there have been upward trends, such as Physics from 2023/24 and Information Technology (IT) in 2024/25. However, both are considerably lower than in 2020/21. Welsh has seen fluctuating results over the five years. In science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects, the shortfall against recruitment allocations was 75.1% in 2024.
Chart 2
Percentage of postgraduate ITE allocations met, by priority subjects, Wales 2020/21 – 2024/25
Source: EWC
3.5. The IWPRB notes that an analysis from Welsh Government on the impact of current recruitment and retention incentives, particularly those targeting Welsh Medium teachers / provision is not available. There is, more generally, a lack of dynamic data available to policy makers to make effective and efficient decisions on how to affect recruitment and retention. Predictive data, using algorithms, would support an understanding of how the teaching workforce in Wales needs to be developed.
3.6. The IWPRB has for a number of years made recommendations regarding the collection, monitoring and reporting of data relating to the diversity of the workforce.
3.7. Recruitment challenges continue into the teaching workforce, particularly at secondary level. Challenges were greater in certain subjects, such as Welsh first language secondary posts. More rural and remote areas also faced greater recruitment issues.
3.8. There is in addition a notable proportion of secondary teachers teaching outside of the subject area in which they were trained, particularly in science subjects. We note the comment in Estyn’s annual report that “In the best examples, these teachers have been offered extensive professional learning, subject mentors and opportunities to observe experienced practitioners teach. Departmental leaders offer these staff high levels of support, monitor their work closely and involve them in discussions around how best to teach different aspects of the subject. In many cases, this support means that pupils receive at least suitable provision. In a minority of cases, however, the support offered by leaders was not comprehensive enough and pupils received poorly delivered, uninspiring lessons as a result.”
3.9. There is a parallel reduction in the retention of teachers. Whilst too early to consider this as being ‘trend’, it is a warning signal.
3.10. Table 1 shows a five-year trend for teachers leaving the profession by sector. In 2023, the most recent data available, the percentage leaving is 3.8% overall, the highest percentage of teachers leaving within the last five-year period, as shown in Table 1.
Table 1
Teachers leaving the profession by sector (headcount), Wales 2019-2023
|
Teachers leaving the profession |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
|
All schools |
612 |
414 |
603 |
756 |
1,004 |
|
Primary |
351 |
251 |
362 |
407 |
589 |
|
Middle |
14 |
16 |
16 |
22 |
58 |
|
Secondary |
247 |
147 |
225 |
327 |
357 |
|
Total number of teachers (headcount) |
25,884 |
26,195 |
26,865 |
27,135 |
26,465 |
|
Percentage of teachers leaving |
2.4 |
1.6 |
2.2 |
2.8 |
3.8 |
3.11. The highest rate of attrition is within the first five years post-qualification; at the other end of the spectrum, the number of teachers leaving the profession to take early retirement was also at a five-year high.
3.12. When considering recommendations for the Cabinet Secretary, the IWPRB takes into account wider economic and labour market factors, notably inflation and wage growth. Teachers’ and leaders’ salaries and allowances are important, and should be seen as one part of a number of matters which affect recruitment and retention. The IWPRB considers comparable graduate salaries, both within the UK, and in OECD countries. Whilst direct comparisons are often complex, the comparators are useful indicators of direction.
3.13. We note that there has been a decline in teachers’ and leaders’ real-terms pay from 2010 onwards. Based on analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies, as of September 2023, teachers’ and leaders’ average earnings were 9% below April 2010 levels after adjustment for CPI inflation.
3.14. Starting salaries for teachers in Wales were £32,433 in 2024, above the UK-wide median graduate starting salary of £32,000 reported by the Institute of Student Employers (ISE), but below the High Fliers median of £34,000. The gap between teachers’ starting salaries compared to ISE and High Fliers has narrowed considerably since 2016, with teachers’ starting salaries increasing by 44.4% compared to 16.4% and 13.3% for the ISE and High Fliers, respectively. This is a positive trend.
3.15. While teachers’ median total salaries (including Teaching and Learning Responsibility allowances - TLRs) are comparable to other professions in Wales, data shows less salary progression for more experienced teachers, compared with other professions and teachers in some other jurisdictions. This results from the fact that teachers in Wales have a relatively compressed salary scale, leading to a salary ‘plateau.’ At this stage, the only route available to increase salary while continuing to teach is by taking on additional responsibilities.
3.16. Similarly, while average salaries for leaders at secondary level compare well internationally, this needs to be considered in the context of the wider challenges that schools are facing. For primary headteachers, salaries compare less well: Wales and England are ranked 11th of 30 OECD countries.
3.17. Further issues raised to the IWPRB in recent years have included challenges with learner behaviour and needs, the increasingly multi-faceted role of teachers and leaders, and limited flexible working opportunities compared to other professions.
3.18. We note also growing concerns about the status of the teaching profession, and conditions of service in Wales. High workload was widely raised, exacerbated by the level of change brought by the reform agenda across education policy in Wales.
4. Strategic Review
4.1. In considering recommendations from our strategic review in 2024, we crafted a proposed implementation plan, designed logically to allow sufficient time for analysis, consultation and integrated impact assessments prior either to final recommendation or implementation. . There has been limited progress on matters for implementation within the strategic review. The IWPRB urges the Welsh Government to agree a timeline and implementation plan for the remaining strategic review recommendations, and considers that matters contained in this review, if implemented holistically, would have a positive impact. Without such an approach, we would be concerned that meaningful progress cannot be made to attract, recruit and retain high-quality teachers and leaders in Wales.
4.2 The recommendations are contained as an annex to this paper.
5. Final Comments
5.1. The scope of the IWPRB’s remit is pay and conditions for teachers and leaders in Wales. We respond annually to matters articulated in the remit letter from the Cabinet Secretary.
5.2. Since our inception in 2019, we have recommended a number of changes to pay and conditions or teachers in Wales, which have been accepted and implemented, including:
· the restoration of a national pay scale, with articulated pay points
· the shortening of the main pay range, meaning that teacher in Wales can reach the top of the scale within 5 years
· the removal pf performance related pay, with the exception of progression to the upper pay range
· the restoration of pay portability
· amendments to Teaching and Learning Responsibility allowances, to reward classroom teaching and pastoral care
· recommendations regarding the role of Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinators, currently under discussion
5.3. However, it remains our belief that in order to address the real challenges facing recruitment and retention within the profession, action must be taken to implement the recommendations of the Strategic Review, and we would urge the committee to consider its recommendations.
6.
Annex 1
Recommendations from the strategic review of April 2024
|
Timing |
IWPRB Rec No |
Education reform timeline and IWPRB recommendations |
Implementation Progress |
|
September 2024 |
Education reform: continued implementation of the Curriculum for Wales; Qualified for the Future: working toward new qualifications; continued implementation of the ALNET Act; working towards Cymraeg 2050; working towards workload reduction. |
||
|
September 2024 |
1 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that from September 2024 the application process to move from the MPR to the UPR be removed from the STPC(W)D, allowing a teacher to move automatically between scales (subject to capability procedures not being invoked). |
Not implemented |
|
September 2024 |
2 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that from September 2024 a school can award an additional point to any UPR teacher whose performance in the previous school year was excellent, with particular regard to classroom teaching. |
Not implemented |
|
September 2024 |
7 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that from September 2024, the minimum headteacher salary is increased, by setting the bottom of headteacher groups one, two and three at the minimum group three salary (£61,547 from September 2023). Existing group one, two and three ceilings should be retained. |
Not implemented |
|
September 2024 |
8 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that in 2024-2025 it models replacing SEN statements with IDPs within the calculation of headteacher groups, and any subsequent impact on school unit totals. |
Not implemented |
|
September 2024 |
12 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that the requirement for line management responsibility for a significant number of people (paragraph 20.5 of the 2024-2025 STPC(W)D) is broadened by adding: or equivalent significant additional levels of responsibility and accountability in key areas of the school |
Fully implemented |
|
September 2024 |
13 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that paragraph 20.3 and Section 3, paragraph 54, of the 2024-2025 STPC(W)D should be amended to stipulate that TLR3 allowances should not be awarded for longer than two years. |
Fully implemented |
|
September 2024 |
14 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that Section 3, paragraph 51 of the 2024-2025 STPC(W)D is replaced by: TLR1s and TLR2s should only be awarded to teachers placed in the specified posts in the staffing structure and to the cash value set out in the pay policy. Where such TLRs are awarded to part-time teachers they will be paid pro rata at the same proportion as the teacher’s part-time contract or, with agreement of the part-time teacher and the employer, will be paid in full if the teacher undertakes the full duties associated with the allowance. |
Fully implemented |
|
September 2024 |
15 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that paragraph 20.4 of the 2024-2025 STPC(W)D should be extended to cover pastoral or well-being responsibilities and the safeguarding of children. |
Fully implemented |
|
September 2024 |
17 |
The IWPRB recommends to Welsh Government that an additional provision is made to paragraph 26 of the 2024-2025 STPC(W)D that allows schools to provide, by agreement with individual teachers, equivalent benefits, such as time off in lieu (TOIL) instead of financial payments. |
Not implemented |
|
September 2024 |
18 |
The IWPRB recommends that the Welsh Government develops a workload reduction plan, which reduces the working time of teachers, to ensure that by September 2027 there is full and consistent adherence to the limits set out in the Working Time Regulations 1998 (paragraph 51.4 of the STPC(W)D) and that there is no detriment when compared with working hours in England. |
Not implemented |
|
September 2024 |
21 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that the STPC(W)D (paragraph 51.10) is revised to link the CPD needs of teachers and leaders to the Professional Standards for Teaching and Leadership and the National Professional Learning Entitlement. |
Fully implemented |
|
September 2024 |
22 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that from September 2024: · the STPC(W)D is amended to include reference to the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 and the right of staff to seek flexible working · the STPC(W)D should include a definition of flexible working along the lines of the ACAS definition “any type of working arrangement that gives some degree of flexibility on how long, where and when employees work” · the Welsh Government should issue guidance on flexible working in schools, setting out the benefits and how flexible working might be introduced. This guidance should allow teachers to spend non-teaching time more flexibly, subject to operational requirements · the model school pay policy should identify the school’s approach to flexible working, taking account of the need to ensure the smooth running of the school and the protection, safety and well-being of pupils |
Not implemented |
|
September 2024 |
24 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that the SPTC(W)D be re-drafted, to include hyperlinks to key guidance to the information contained within the statutory section of the document. |
Partially implemented |
|
September 2024 |
25 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that it encourages the employers’ organisations to expedite the model pay policy, and to include in it statements on workload and flexible working. |
Not implemented |
|
September 2024 |
26 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that it urgently reviews the monitoring and reporting of equalities legislation at school and local authority level, and considers whether changes are required to the STPC(W)D and school pay policies, to ensure that schools and local authorities carry out their statutory duties regarding equalities. |
Under review |
|
2024-2025 Remit |
NA |
Consideration of conditions of service for school leaders will be specifically referenced as part of the IWPRB’s pay review remit for 2024-2025. |
|
|
2025-2026 Remit |
Education reform: the Curriculum for Wales will be nearing the completion of implementation; the first teaching of new qualifications will commence in September 2025; the strategic group on workload reduction will have completed its work; the completion of the equalities impact assessment for NQTs progressing up the pay scale only when having completed induction will have been received. |
||
|
2025-2026 Remit |
3 |
The IWPRB supports a single pay scale in principle, and recommends to the Welsh Government that the IWPRB is remitted in 2025-2026 to consult on the development and structure of a single consolidated pay scale. Until such time as the review takes place, the IWPRB recommends that the existing terminology for pay scales (MPR and UPR) is retained, together with the existing arrangements for pay points, that is, annually on the MPR and biennially on the UPR. |
- |
|
2025-2026 Remit |
4 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that the role of the leading practitioner and its associated pay structure be reviewed by the IWPRB in 2025-2026, alongside the single consolidated pay scale for teachers referred to in Recommendation 3. |
- |
|
2025-2026 Remit |
5 |
The IWPRB believes in principle that NQTs should only progress on the teaching scale when their induction period has been satisfactorily completed, and recommends to the Welsh Government that it is remitted in 2025-2026 to consult on this matter, following consideration of an equalities impact assessment by the Welsh Government. |
- |
|
2025-2026 Remit |
19 |
The IWPRB supports the specification of a maximum number of teaching hours per week within the STPC(W)D. We recommend to the Welsh Government that it carries out a full impact assessment of this proposal, and that the IWPRB is remitted in 2025-2026 to consult on implementation. |
- |
|
2025-2026 Remit |
23 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that it be remitted in 2025-2026 to consult on proposals, for implementation within the STPC(W)D, to offer: · unpaid sabbaticals for teachers and leaders · career breaks for teachers and leaders · a specified number of nationally funded sabbaticals or secondments for teachers and leaders |
- |
|
2026-2027 Remit |
Education reform: the Curriculum for Wales will be in its final year of implementation; the ALNET Act (Wales) will have been implemented; the modelling of the effects of the ALNET Act on headteacher groups will have been received; the completion of federated structures research will have been completed.
|
||
|
2026-2027 Remit |
9 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that the IWPRB is remitted in 2026-2027 to review the salary range for headteachers and the methodology for the calculation of headteacher groups be undertaken, taking into account the modelling of ALN changes proposed in Recommendation 8. |
- |
|
2026-2027 Remit |
10 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that it reviews and analyses the executive and leadership structures and pay arrangements of federated schools across Wales, and that the IWPRB is asked to consider the findings within its 2026-2027 remit. |
- |
|
2026-2027 Remit |
11 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that the IWPRB is remitted in 2026-2027 to consult on a review of the leadership group pay range and associated guidance, alongside that of headteacher groups referred to in Recommendation 9. |
- |
|
2026-2027 Remit |
20 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that time allocated for PPA should be re-examined once the outcome of Recommendation 19 is known, and that the IWPRB should be remitted to explore this further in 2026-2027. |
- |
|
2027-2028 Remit
|
6 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that a review of the terms and conditions for the safeguarding of salaries be remitted to the IWPRB for the 2027-2028 review period. |
- |
|
2027-2028 Remit |
16 |
The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that following the review of data analysis, the IWPRB is remitted to review allowances for Welsh-medium teachers in 2027-2028. |
- |