A meeting of the executive of the NEU has decided to recommend to their members that they accept the governments pay offer. There will still be a ballot of all members over the day deal, but it seems likely that members will follow the recommendation of the leadership.

The pay offer is funded to the tune of £1.2 billion. In theory schools had already budgeted for a 2% pay increase, and the additional cash will make up the different.

It’s worth noting that support staff voted in an indicative strike ballot to strike. NEU is working with other support staff unions to coordinate action. The offer that has been made to support staff is not fully funded, and is a stealth cut to school budgets.