Paul Whiteman, General Secretary at NAHT, said: “With inflation currently running at 9.1%, and set to spiral to 11% later this year, today’s pay award still amounts to yet another pay cut for school leaders in real-terms.

“Even with this award, school leaders’ salaries have fallen in real terms by around 20% since 2010, and inflation is still rising. School leaders simply asked government to begin to restore what they have lost – this award does not do that.

A 5% award this year, rather than over two years, is an improvement on the government’s original proposal. However, it still amounts to yet another below-inflation award. School leaders will have little confidence in the promise of a further review next year as they have been let down so many times before.

Worryingly, the government has said there will be no new funding for this pay award. This will put enormous and unsustainable pressure on school budgets. Ultimately this could lead to a situation where schools are having to consider cuts to essential services or even redundancies.

“Despite the weighty responsibilities that leaders’ shoulder, and their enormous contribution to the nation through these pandemic years, government has once again come up with a pay award that will see them earning less in real-terms. Parents would be right to conclude that government is failing to secure the pipeline of school leaders and teachers upon which their children’s futures are so dependent.”