NASUWT welcomes four important changes in the updated STPCD 2024/25:

  1. A pay uplift of 5.5% to all pay values and allowances. Full details and updated salary values can be found on our Pay Award (England) page.

  2. The option for the removal of performance-related pay (PRP).

  3. Clarification that ‘where reasonably appropriate and agreed by both the individual teacher and the relevant body, PPA can be taken in one weekly unit and it can be taken away from the school site’. 

  4. Administrative tasks (Annex 5) have been moved from the guidance section to the pay and conditions section. Further details can be found on our Administrative and Clerical Tasks (England) page.

Performance management/PRP

What is changing?

In July 2024, the new government confirmed that it will amend the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) to remove the PRP requirement. All schools and employers should now amend their pay and appraisal policies accordingly. This expectation applies to all pay ranges including unqualified, main, upper, lead practitioners and leadership pay ranges.

Whilst some academy trusts have already used the discretion available to them to discontinue the use of PRP, others have not done so and in all local authority maintained schools, the provisions of the STPCD have required that movement along all pay ranges must be linked to the outcomes of performance management. This removal of the requirement for PRP represents a major victory for teachers everywhere. Every teacher eligible for pay progression will progress annually until they reach the top of their pay range, the employer may only choose to withhold pay progression if a teacher is subject to capability procedures.

What will this change mean for me?

The implications of this change will depend on the type of school in which you are employed and where relevant, the choices it has made about the use of PRP.

Members working in academy trusts where the outcomes of performance management or appraisal have already been decoupled from pay progression will not be affected by this change.

Members working in local authority maintained schools, in which the STPCD applies, or in academy trusts that have chosen to retain PRP, should be aware that there is no longer any expectation that decisions about progression along the relevant pay range must take account of the outcomes of appraisal. Such schools and employers now have the discretion to withdraw their PRP arrangements for the pay year 2024/25. NASUWT’s clear expectation is that they must now withdraw PRP.

NASUWT expects that all schools where PRP has been in place must amend their pay and performance management policies to remove all references to PRP for the 2024/25 pay year. We have published checklists for pay and performance management policies with no link between pay and performance that should be used to guide employers’ revisions to these policies.

What about pay progression for 2023/24?

The changes to PRP requirements will, when implemented, apply to the pay year 2024/25. This means that performance management outcomes for the 2023/24 appraisal cycle must be used to inform pay progression decisions in schools where PRP has been used.

For local authority maintained schools, it is important to note that PRP for the 2023/24 appraisal cycle is a legal requirement.

What about movement between the main and upper pay ranges?

Arrangements for movement between the main and upper pay ranges remain unaffected by these changes. The threshold application process currently remains.

NASUWT expects that teachers who are eligible to apply to move to the upper pay range will be awarded progression to the upper pay range automatically. 

NASUWT expects that the only reason an employer may only decline a threshold application is if a teacher is subject to formal capability proceedings.

Has the government published any guidance on these changes?

The Department for Education (DfE) has updated its guidance documents on appraisal (pdf), capability (pdf), and pay policies (pdf) in order to take account of these changes.

It is important to note that while some of the content of these guidance documents is helpful, they have not been endorsed by NASUWT. Our expectations on pay (pdf), performance management (pdf) and capability (pdf) policies are set out clearly in our checklists.

What is NASUWT’s position on these changes?

We welcome the removal of requirements for schools to operate PRP in respect of teachers’ ability to progress along all pay ranges as an important first step towards greater transparency and fairness in arrangements for teachers’ pay. Where an employer seeks to retain a requirement for PRP for teachers, members should contact NASUWT for advice and support.

Whilst we welcome the removal of the requirement for PRP, it remains clear that many aspects of the pay and conditions framework for teachers are not fit for purpose and require reform. We will continue to call for the establishment of national commission on pay, comprised of trade unions, employers and government, to identify further important reforms to this framework, including the introduction of a six-point pay scale underpinned by automatic pay progression and an end to the threshold application process.

What is NASUWT's policy on pay?

NASUWT's Conference policy on pay for classroom teachers in all UK jurisdictions is for a single classroom teacher pay scale of six pay points, with even gaps between the points, using the Current M1 and U3 points for England as point one and six of the new scale. This means the removal of any threshold process.

NASUWT’s Conference policy is clear that teachers’ ability to progress along their relevant pay ranges should not be dependent on the outcomes of their annual performance management and appraisal review.

We have been actively lobbying and campaigning for the removal of the requirement for PRP and set out ten clear reasons why PRP of this type is inappropriate and damaging to pupils and teachers.

Further information and support from NASUWT

We have produced a practical guide for members on navigating the performance management process, including preparing for appraisal reviews and tests for assessing the suitability of performance management objectives, as well as a checklist (pdf) for what should be in a capability policy.