European Trade Union Committee for Education

On 6 April 2015, at their annual conference the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the UK ETUCE member, voted for a possible strike after the UK elections. The strike would take place if the next government introduced education spending cuts rather than to increase funding for schools in England and Wales. Delegates at the conference in Harrogate backed a priority resolution delivering a six-month ultimatum to the next government to stop the cuts.

"The Coalition Government has not protected education funding.  Many schools have seen real terms cuts in their budgets, and have seen valuable local authority services cut back or lost altogether", said Christine Blower, NUT General Secretary and ETUCE President. According to her, "teachers and students have been hit hard by the cuts.  Teachers have seen job losses, worsening working conditions and restrictions on pay progression.  Many serving teachers have been driven out of the profession, and many potential recruits to teaching lost." The analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that school funding would be cut by up to 12 % no matter who wins the election, and would lead to job losses and increased workload, as well as lower pay and pension contributions for school staff.

At the same time, during the general election campaign, there have been different pledges from the two major parties, Conservative and Labour, to protect school funding. The next United Kingdom general election will be held on 7 May 2015.