In July 2022 the government announced its biggest pay rise for public sector workers. This includes an increase for over one million NHS staff, as well as teachers, police officers, prison officers, members of the Armed Forces, the judiciary, senior civil servants, senior military and police and crime commissioners.

The pay awards vary by profession. The new pay scales for teachers and school leaders for 2022-2023 have been confirmed by the Department for Education. Teachers across the country will benefit from pay increases of between 5% and 8.9% which will be backdated from 1st September 2022.

The starting salary for teachers (Early Career Teachers) outside London will reach £28,000, a rise of 8.9% in the 2022/23 academic year. This means an Early Career Teacher (ECT) will receive over £2,000 more than the previous academic year. For teachers working in London, the pay scale increase for ECTs in the first year of teaching varies from 8.9% in London Fringe to 7.3% in inner London. This would help to ensure that the government hits its promise of moving starting salaries to £30,000 for early career teachers.

The competitive new starting salary is an effort to attract and retain top quality talent into the industry and further raise the status of the teaching profession.

More experienced teachers and leaders will receive rises of 5% (an increase on the Government’s initial proposal of 3%), which the Department of Education (DfE) said was equivalent to an increase of almost £2,100 on the average salary of £42,400 on the 2021 - 2022 Teachers’ Pay Scale.

How does the teachers’ pay work?

The Teachers’ Pay Scale is a scale designed by the Department of Education and Skills that allocates different teachers to different bands based on position, experience, and location. The annual salary as a teaching professional, therefore, is based on where you are placed on the Teacher Pay Scale. A starting salary for a teacher outside London is £28,000, whereas for those who work in London are paid more to a maximum of £34,502 in inner London.

The pay scales for qualified teachers are split into main and upper pay ranges - after entering at the ECT year, teachers are promoted up the scales in line with performance. These range, from the main pay scale which have six bands M1 to M6 to the upper pay scale that have 3 bands, U1 to U3. There are separate scales for leadership roles.

• A teacher on the main pay scale can earn anything from £28,000 to £44,756.
• On the upper scale, a teacher will earn anything from £40,625 to £53,482.

A teacher’s salary is set by the school’s governing board and is based on performance and appraisal. Teachers can be paid any amount between the minimum and maximum for their band, therefore those who are on the same band will not necessarily mean they all earn the same amount.

Supply teacher salary

For supply teachers, there are three rates of pay in England and Wales which are dependent on qualifications and experience. These are:

• Unqualified - £19,340 to £30,172
• Main - £28,000 to £38,810
• Upper - £40,625 to £43,685

Supply teachers are paid on a daily rate, which is calculated on a pro-rata basis by dividing the annual salary of their bracket by 195 (the number of days a teacher is required in school per year).

Pay rates for Scottish supply teachers vary depending on length of service, while Northern Irish substitute teachers are paid in a similar points-based pay scale to England and Wales.

Teachers’ Pay Scale 2022/2023 – how much can I expect?

The new pay rates effective from 1^st September 2022 for all the UK are below. These have been obtained from the Department of Education’s Teachers’ Pay and Conditions document 2022.

Teachers’ Main Pay Scales (2022/2023)

Teacher pension contribution

As a result of the rise, your Teacher Pension contribution rate may change if your salary changes.

Check your pension contribution bands for 2021/22 in the table below. They usually change each April, so it’s best to keep an eye out. For more information on teachers’ pension please visit Teacher Pension and National Education Union. 

Reasons behind the teacher pay increase

The report by the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) justified its recommendation to give bigger pay rises to less experienced teachers saying that the data showed “graduate joiners to some professions have the potential to earn significantly higher starting salaries than those offered in teaching”.

Retention of newer teachers was also a consideration, with the report noting that “teacher leaving rates were highest among those in their early careers”.

It adds that, when looking at median pay, teachers are below other professional occupations, but that the “gaps are widest for younger teachers and for those in London”.

The problem of the retention and recruitment of teachers has been raised repeatedly by the sector and pay has been seen as a key lever with which to try and tackle this issue.