21/09/2026
Saved On, Passed Over: The Quiet Injustice in This Year's School Pay Deal
There are no press conferences for decisions like this one.
No ministerial announcement. No headline. Just a line in a letter, telling schools they can keep a saving.
That saving was made on school support staff.
The cost of their pensions has fallen. Their pensions are safe. But the money freed up is real, and it came from the people who are already paid least in our schools.
Ministers had a choice. They chose to let that money go elsewhere.
Every school worker deserves a fair pay rise, and nobody begrudges colleagues theirs. But it cannot be right that the lowest paid people in our schools are once again left with nothing, while savings made on them are spent elsewhere.
Many support staff are on Term-Time Only contracts and go weeks every year without pay. Many are working second jobs. Many are wondering how much longer they can afford to stay in a job they love. They deserved better than this, and we are deeply disappointed that Ministers did not choose to give it to them.
The NEU has made a point of reaching out to support staff and asking for their trust. Trust is earned when it matters. This settlement was welcomed as "a significant step", but for who? Certainly not support staff!
Solidarity cannot stop at the staffroom door.
GMB Union represents over 100,000 school support staff, and we will keep making their case to the Government, loudly and without apology.
Support staff are not an afterthought. They are the backbone of every school in this country.
If you work in a school and feel forgotten, join the union that will always stand with you.
👉 gmb.org.uk/join-gmb
