Teachers’ 2025/26 pay award in Wales

The Independent Welsh Pay Review Body (IWPRB) 6th Report recommended that teachers in Wales receive a 4.8% pay uplift on all salaries and allowances for the 2025/26 academic year.

Whilst teachers were still out of pocket in real-terms pay, it was above the RPI inflation value of 4.5%.

It was therefore disappointing that the Welsh Government decided upon a 4% pay award in September 2025 instead.

This was a further blow for teachers and it further exacerbates the recruitment and retention crisis in our schools.

Classroom teachers in Wales remain significantly poorer in real terms than they were in 2010 due to the cumulative impact of pay awards failing to match cost-of-living increases as measured by both the RPI and CPI inflation measures.

Pay increases for classroom teachers in Wales have also failed to keep pace with pay increases more generally in both the public and private sectors since 2010.

NASUWT continues to campaign and lobby for a real-terms pay uplift that will find teachers’ pay gain parity with competing professions.

Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinator pay

Although Additional Learning Needs Coordinator (ALNCo) pay was not a matter for recommendations in the IWPRB 6th Report, it was a part of the 5th Report and in March 2026 the Welsh Government released a revised School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions (Wales) Document (STPC(W)D) that finally incorporated the following recommendations of the 5th Report:

  • The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that ALNCos currently paid on the MPR and UPR be paid on the LGPR from September 2024. We further recommend that ALNCos be included in the ‘leadership pay’ sections of the STPC(W)D and that they are subject to the same terms and conditions as leaders.

  • The IWPRB recommends to the Welsh Government that ALNCos currently paid on the MPR and UPR should be paid a salary on the LGPR on a scale point which is either equivalent to, or the nearest point above, their consolidated existing salary and allowance.

This means that from March 2026, all teachers who hold the post of Additional Learning Needs Coordinator must be moved onto the leadership pay scale and be incorporated as full members of the leadership team, alongside headteachers, deputy headteachers and assistant headteachers.

The school also has to decide upon a five-point pay scale for this ALNCo post in their pay policy and subsequently place the ALNCo post on the pay point that is the nearest above their current salary.

Maintained schools will probably be reliant on guidance from their local authorities in implementing these changes and as a result there may be some confusion or delay.

Members are advised to contact us if you are experiencing any problems with this transition.

Non-pay conditions

There were no non-pay recommendations in the IWPRB 6th Report as they had not received that remit.

This was because the non-pay issues were still within the domain of the Strategic Review which was released in 2023 but only adopted in principle, subject to further consultation, by the Welsh Government in April 2024.

Whilst some have been adopted in the 2024 and 2025 STCP(W)D, progress on the others is slow and in NASUWT’s evidence submission to the IWPRB 7th Report we were mindful to press the Welsh Government on this delay and its consequence on the profession.

The Strategic Review made 26 recommendations in total, including many non-pay recommendations.

The review can be read in full on the Welsh Government page Structure of Teachers’ and Leaders’ Pay and Conditions: Review.

Press releases/news in Wales

 


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