Guidance on salaries

ASCL's guide to the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) 2007, and the related DCSF guidance, is now available on the website at www.ascl.org.uk, in the members' area under guidance/pay and conditions. The document sets out the statutory arrangements governing the pay and conditions of service of teachers.

The ASCL guidance will help members to interpret and apply the STPCD (formerly known as the 'blue book' - unhelpfully printed in white this year). It is intended to be read in conjunction with the STPCD and explanatory notes which can be found at www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/payandperformance/pay

The main changes from 2006 of which members should be aware are:

• An increase of 2.5 per cent in all pay scales and spines, spot salaries and allowances/TLRs

• Closer links between performance management*, appraisal arrangements and pay decisions (apart from those relating to unqualified teachers and the annual increment on the main scale)

• Revised pay standards (applicable in England and Wales for postthreshold teachers, Excellent Teachers and ASTs) and the related changes in assessment procedures

• The amendment of paragraph 50 of Section 4 to give advance warning that schools should expect to operate on the basis that teachers rarely cover from 1 September 2009 (consultation on this statutory provision in due course)

*In Wales the changes are effective from 1 September 2007, because teachers are still under the Appraisal Regulations 2002 until revised performance management regulations are introduced. In England pay progression decisions on the academic year 2006/07 must be carried out in accordance with the 2001 Appraisal Regulations and the STPCD 2006.