The National Education Union’s national executive will meet on Thursday 24 September to decide whether October’s teachers’ strike ballot goes ahead — a formal strike ballot of teachers in England.
The ballot, due to open on 3 October and close on 15 December, would cover teachers across England, including London’s schools.
Funding concession shifts the ground
The decision point follows a government move to fully fund the teachers’ pay award. In a press release on 16 September, headed “NEU secures from Government full funding for teacher pay offer”, the union said it had “secured through negotiations with the Secretary of State for Education a fully funded pay increase”, with Education Secretary Lucy Powell writing to NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede.
“Finally, we have a government that accepts the reality that any teacher pay award must be fully funded. Plugging the £460 million black hole in school budgets signals a welcome return to reality…”
Daniel Kebede, NEU general secretary
On the ballot itself, the union is keeping its options open. “In light of this news the NEU Executive will discuss our response on the 24 September,” it said.
The dispute has centred on funding rather than the size of the award itself. The 3.5% rise due this September and the 3% rise due the following September follow the School Teachers Review Body’s recommendations, which were accepted in full — but the union argued schools could not afford them without dedicated money, pointing to what Daniel Kebede called a £460 million black hole in school budgets. The September concession, negotiated with the Secretary of State for Education and confirmed in Lucy Powell’s letter to Kebede, is intended to plug that gap. The executive will now weigh whether that is enough to stand the ballot down.
The pay award
The award at the centre of the dispute follows School Teachers Review Body recommendations accepted in full: 3.5% from September 2026 and 3% from September 2027, a cumulative 6.5% over two years. It was announced on 1 July by then Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson.
“Our brilliant school and college teachers go above and beyond every day, and I’m determined that dedication is not just recognised, but rewarded. This multi-year deal, backed by significant additional investment, shows the immense value we place in our teachers, while giving schools and colleges certainty over pay and their budgets.”
Bridget Phillipson, then Education Secretary, 1 July 2026
Where the money comes from
The government has committed £700 million extra in 2026-27 and £1.1 billion in 2027-28 to fund the award. BBC News reported on 17 September that schools in England would get around £500 million extra this school year in a bid to avert the strike, confirming the 3.5% and 3% awards and the mechanism behind the money: a 4.9 percentage-point drop in Local Government Pension Scheme employer contributions, which central government will not claw back.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates, reported by the BBC, that the extra funding fully covers this year’s increase and leaves schools £1.6 billion better off by next year than had been expected this summer.
Teachers’ strike ballot: what happens next
Thursday’s executive meeting is the decision point: members will decide whether the teachers’ strike ballot goes ahead in light of the funding concession. The union has not said the ballot is definitely happening, nor that it is called off — that call comes on the 24th.
Reporting based on: the GOV.UK press release (1 July 2026), the NEU press release (16 September 2026) and the BBC report (17 September 2026).
