The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) has slammed the Department for Education’s (DfE) latest announcement that they are increasing pension contributions to the Teachers’ Pensions Scheme (TPS) for the second year running.

Under new plans, teachers will have to pay an extra £59 a month into their pension scheme despite the pay freeze currently in place.

NASUWT general Chris Keates said: “As a result of the agreement by the DfE and those representing a minority of the teaching profession, teachers are now facing the prospect of having to pay more and work considerably longer for a pension that will be worth substantially less. The contributions increase is an unjustifiable tax on teachers.”

Keates added that according to a recent NASUWT survey of over 16,000 teachers, a total of 79 per cent of teachers stated that they will not be able to afford the government’s planned increases to pension contributions. “The NASUWT and its members will continue the campaign of opposition to these disgraceful attacks on the profession,” he said.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) general secretary Christine Blower warned that strike action could be “inevitable”.

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