Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 24
24
Department lacks comprehensive analysis comparing cost-effectiveness of incentives against direct teacher pay increases.
Conclusion
We asked the Department if it has assessed whether spending on initiatives such the Early Career Framework (£131 million budget in 2024–25) provides better outcomes than simply increasing teachers’ pay. The Department did not confirm if it had undertaken this analysis but instead told us more generally that teaching quality would need to be considered alongside teacher numbers.68 More widely, the Department has begun work to understand the relative costs and benefits of its school- focused financial incentives to recruit teachers which it plans to use to help decide where to direct funding.69 New teachers also benefit from a defined benefit pension scheme.70 While the Department has not considered pay as part of this analysis, the National Foundation for Educational Research concluded that bursaries were more cost-effective when compared with, for example, universal pay increases and other targeted initiatives such as early career payments.71 Increasing teacher numbers in disadvantaged areas and core subjects
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
6.3 Evidence suggests that pay can be an effective lever at scale; for example, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) estimates that a 1% improvement in competitiveness of school teacher pay increases recruitment by 2% and retention by 1.5%. Meanwhile evidence is growing on the effectiveness and value for money of specific targeted financial measures, like bursaries and retention payments, and for non-financial interventions.