Schools’ HR Advisory Service
School teachers’ pay award 2015/16
Introduction
The 2015 School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) was published on 10
August 2015. The principles underlying the core non-pay conditions remain unchanged in
the document; however, there are a number of changes to the pay ranges. These changes
and implications for schools are set out below.
Changes to the pay ranges
The pay ranges for school teachers have been amended as follows:

1% uplift to the minima of all the pay ranges
This is a mandatory change which should be applied from 01 September 2015 for all
schools following the STPCD.
The points below apply to the ranges within which schools have the option to pay teachers.
Whether or the extent to which they are applied is entirely at the discretion of the governing
body. All salary increases should be linked to performance.


1% uplift to the maxima of the Upper Pay Range, Unqualified Range and Leading
Practitioner range
2% uplift to the maximum of the Main Pay Range
Additionally the following position applies to the Leadership ranges:


No uplift to the maximum of the Leadership Pay Range
No uplift to the maxima of the eight Headteacher group ranges
Implications for schools
What changes do schools have to make?
Where a classroom teacher or leadership group member is paid on the minimum of their
pay range, their salary, excluding any allowances, must be uplifted to the new minimum.
This is a statutory requirement for all maintained VA, VC and foundation schools and for
academies who have agreed to mirror the STPCD changes in their transfer agreements.
Serco have automatically applied this uplift to the minimum of the pay ranges from
September 2015 for all schools buying into the payroll service to ensure schools are in line
with statutory requirements.
What flexibilities do schools have?
Ultimately it is for schools to determine how they translate the uplift to the national ranges
into their own pay decisions, ensuring that they are consistent with the provisions of the
school’s pay policy.
Schools can choose whether or not to give a 1% award to teachers at the maxima of the
Upper Pay Range, Unqualified Range and Leading Practitioner range.
Schools can also choose whether or not to give a 2% award to teachers at the maxima of
the Main Pay Range. Schools are not obliged to give a 2% award, and could choose to give
an award of 1% or any other value up to 2%.
All pay awards must be linked to performance (see ‘Linking pay and performance’ below).
Schools can set their own pay points within a pay range in their local policies, if they judge it
appropriate to their needs. One option is to continue to use the previous pay scale points
(uprated as appropriate) as the basis for an annual pay award.
Hertfordshire continue to provide reference points in line with the pay point structure
contained in the STPCD prior to 2013 and these have been amended to reflect the latest
recommendations in the STPCD, however schools are not obliged to use these reference
points and are free to set their own pay points within the pay ranges if they choose to do so.
Can schools give a pay award to Headteachers?
Schools cannot give a pay award to Headteachers on the maxima of their group range, or
teachers on the maximum of the Leadership Pay Range. No uplift has been made to these
ranges, and therefore schools have no flexibility to make awards in these cases.
Where a Headteacher is not at the top of a school group range schools can award an uplift
if they choose to do so.
Schools generally have greater flexibility to decide how they wish to reward their leadership
teams to reflect individual performance and the challenges of the post. The pay of
Headteachers or leadership teams in post can be reviewed when there have been
significant changes to responsibilities since September 2014.
Linking pay and performance
Individual school pay policies for 2014/15 will have set out the basis for determining the
level of any pay progression for the school’s teachers, including the Headteacher, from 1
September 2015.
All pay decisions must be made on objective criteria so that there is no discriminatory effect
on any teacher or group of teachers with a particular protected characteristic under the
Equality Act 2010. Schools are free to withhold progression pay without any requirement to
initiate or consider capability proceedings. There should be scope, where justified by
consistently excellent performance, for the most able teachers to progress rapidly.
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It is up to each school to decide for itself how best to implement the arrangements and
develop its policies accordingly. No single approach will suit all schools. School appraisal
policies need to continue to reflect the links between performance and pay.
How do schools make changes in the payroll system?
In August all teachers on the HCC payroll were moved to a free text M0, U0 and L0 salary
point. Schools will be free to enter whichever salary they wish into these fields.
The reference points have been uplifted in the system to take account of the STRB
recommendations:
 Main Range points 1-5, Upper Pay Range points 1-3, the Leading Practitioner
Range and Leadership Range points 1-42 have been uplifted by 1%.
 Main Range point 6 has been uplifted by 2%.
 Leadership Range point 43 has not been uplifted.
What about allowances?
Serco have uplifted TLRs and SEN allowances to comply with the statutory ranges, for
these allowances only; schools will be invited to submit a spreadsheet of the uplifts that
they wish to apply. In future it is hoped that these will be incorporated into the Performance
Related Pay portal screen, enabling schools to submit the uplifts determined by the
Governing Body for those allowances.
Further information
The DfE guidance related to the implementation of the 2015 STPCD may be found via the
following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/452050/Imple
menting-your-school_s-approach-to-pay.pdf
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LEADERSHIP GROUP PAY RANGE
Discretionary Reference Points 2015/16
England & Wales
Fringe
2015
2015
2014
2014
38,598
39,660
1
38,216
39,267
39,564
40,629
2
39,173
40,226
40,554
41,616
3
40,151
41,204
41,562
42,630
4
41,150
42,209
42,597
43,668
5
42,176
43,235
43,665
44,733
6
43,232
44,291
44,841
45,912
7
44,397
45,456
45,876
46,938
8
45,422
46,475
47,022
48,087
9
46,556
47,612
48,228
49,293
10
47,750
48,806
49,482
50,544
11
48,992
50,043
50,619
51,690
12
50,118
51,179
51,885
52,956
13
51,372
52,431
53,178
54,246
14
52,653
53,709
54,504
55,566
15
53,963
55,016
55,953
57,021
16
55,397
56,456
57,237
58,311
17
56,670
57,734
58,097
59,151
18*
58,097
59,151
58,677
59,742
18
58,097
59,151
60,129
61,200
19
59,535
60,593
61,623
62,694
20
61,013
62,073
62,522
63,585
21*
62,522
63,585
63,147
64,221
21
62,522
63,585
64,716
65,784
22
64,074
65,133
66,318
67,383
23
65,661
66,716
67,290
68,351
24*
67,290
68,351
67,962
69,033
24
67,290
68,351
69,652
70,716
25
68,963
70,016
71,376
72,447
26
70,668
71,729
72,419
73,475
27*
72,419
73,475
73,143
74,208
27
72,419
73,475
74,958
76,023
28
74,216
75,269
76,815
77,884
29
76,053
77,112
78,726
79,788
30
77,946
78,999
79,872
80,933
31*
79,872
80,933
80,670
81,741
31
79,872
80,933
82,677
83,745
32
81,857
82,917
84,732
85,800
33
83,892
84,951
86,826
87,897
34
85,965
87,026
88,102
89,162
35*
88,102
89,162
88,986
90,054
35
88,102
89,162
91,188
92,253
36
90,284
91,340
93,453
94,521
37
92,528
93,585
95,766
96,834
38
94,817
95,874
97,128
98,183
39*
97,128
98,183
98,100
99,165
39
97,128
98,183
4
100,548
101,619
40
99,552
100,613
103,059
104,127
41
102,039
103,097
105,645
106,713
42
104,596
105,656
107,210
108,272
43
107,210
108,272
* Headteachers at the top of their school group range in
2014/15 will not receive an uplift in 2015/16.
MAIN PAY RANGE
Discretionary Reference Points 2015/16
England & Wales
2015
2014
22,242
Minimum
M1
22,023
24,003
M2
23,765
25,932
M3
25,676
27,927
M4
27,650
30,126
M5
29,829
32,509
M6a
32,187
32,832
Maximum M6b
Fringe
2015
2014
23,313
23,082
25,068
24,821
27,000
26,732
29,001
28,713
31,197
30,887
33,577
33,245
33,909
UPPER PAY RANGE
Discretionary Reference Points 2015/16
England & Wales
Fringe
2015
2015
2014
2014
35,217
36,285
Minimum
U1
34,869
35,927
36,522
37,590
U2
36,161
37,217
37,872
38,940
Maximum
U3
37,496
38,555
UNQUALIFIED TEACHER PAY RANGE
Discretionary Reference Points 2015/16
England & Wales
2015
2014
16,298
Minimum
1
16,136
18,194
2
18,013
20,088
3
19,889
21,984
4
21,766
23,881
5
23,644
25,776
Maximum
6
25,520
Fringe
2015
2014
17,368
17,196
19,262
19,071
21,158
20,948
23,053
22,824
24,949
24,701
26,843
26,577
Leading Practitioner Range 2015/16
England and Wales
£38,598 to £58,677
Fringe
£39,660 to £59,743
Additional Allowance Ranges
TLR3
TLR2
TLR1
SEN
£517 to £2,577
£2,613 to £6,386
£7,546 to £12,770
£2,064 to £4,075
5
TLR
3
2a
2b
2c
1a
1b
1c
1d
TLR reference points
2014
2015
511 to 2,551 517 to 2,577
2,589
2,616
4,455
4,500
6,324
6,387
7,473
7,548
9,198
9,291
10,923
11,031
12,645
12,771
SEN Reference points
SEN
2014
2015
1
2,043 2,064
2
4,035 4,077
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