TEACHERS across Hampshire are once again striking in pursuit of a fully-funded above-inflation pay rise.

The National Education Union (NEU) announced new strike dates for Wednesday, July 5 and Friday, July 7.

Staff at Perins School in Alresford were picketing outside the school gates today. Speaking to the Hampshire Chronicle, NEU union representative Victoria Furness said: “What’s changed since our last strike day is we know that Gillian Keegan, the Secretary of State for Education, has got the STRB (independent School Teacher’s Review Body) report.

“It’s been leaked to say that it recommends a 6.5 per cent pay rise - although it’s unclear about whether there’s any funding attached to that, and unfunded it’s meaningless and damaging to education – and she’s refusing to publish it and it’s also be speculated that Rishi Sunak is going to undermine the independent STRB which they’ve never done before, they’ve always accepted the recommendations of the STRB.

READ MORE: New round of Hampshire teacher strikes announced for next week

“This time it looks like they might refuse to honour the pay rise recommended by the STRB.”

She continued: “At the moment, no school leader in the entire country can work out their wage bill for next year – there are no pay scales published. So, they are having to budget for September without knowing how much the staff are going to cost. So, it’s an impossible situation for school leaders. The school leaders’ unions, the NEHT and the ASCL are also balloting their members so we might have a general strike come the autumn.

“Head teachers are suffering the most of this because they have no idea how much their staff is going to cost and a normal school spends 80 per cent of its funding on staffing. If you don’t know how much that’s going to cost, there’s no way of knowing. And we’re on July 7, and it’s unlike that the STRB is going to be published before the holidays, so it’s a headache.

“That’s our focus. The core point that we want a fully-funded, above-inflation pay rise remains, however, the STRB is a significant step forward in that and we want to see it funded and published.”