The Department for Education has now finalised the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions (England) Order 2026. The instrument was made on 14 October 2026, laid before Parliament on 16 October 2026 and is due to come into force on 6 November 2026. It was signed by Georgia Gould, Minister of State for School Standards. (legalize.dev) Rather than restating the pay regime in full, the Order gives legal effect to Section 2 of the “School teachers’ pay and conditions document 2026 and guidance on school teachers’ pay and conditions”, dated 14 October 2026 and published on GOV.UK. That published document is the operative text schools will need to use alongside the instrument. (legalize.dev)
In legal terms, the instrument extends to England and Wales but applies to school teachers in England. GOV.UK says the accompanying statutory guidance is directed at local authorities, school leaders, school teachers and governing bodies, and that it relates to local-authority-maintained schools in England. (legalize.dev) The provisions brought into effect cover both remuneration and those conditions of employment tied to professional duties or working time. For maintained schools, this is the statutory national framework used to set salary ranges, allowances and the contractual rules that govern duties and working hours. (legalize.dev)
The main procedural point is the retrospective effect. Although the Order comes into force on 6 November 2026, it provides that Section 2 of the 2026 document has effect on and after 1 September 2026. The document itself repeats that the 2025 framework is replaced and that the new provisions apply from the start of September. (legalize.dev) That timing matters for payroll and annual pay-setting. The 2026 document states that remuneration determinations must be made annually with effect from 1 September, and that teachers must be notified in writing of those determinations no later than one month afterwards. In practical terms, autumn-term implementation should therefore be read against the 2026 rules rather than the revoked 2025 instrument. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)
The route to the Order followed the standard statutory process. The 2026 document says it was amended in response to the School Teachers’ Review Body’s 36th report, published on 1 July 2026, and GOV.UK shows the final 2026 pay and conditions document was added to the official page on 16 October 2026. (gov.uk) That sequence matters because the Order is the legal step that converts pay policy into binding rules for maintained schools. On 1 July 2026, the Department for Education said ministers had accepted the review body’s recommendations in full as part of a two-year settlement for teachers and school leaders. (gov.uk)
On pay, the 2026 document states that from 1 September 2026 a 3.5% increase applies to all pay and allowance ranges and advisory points, except for the minimum of the unqualified teacher range outside London, which rises by 5%. The same document also sets out a further 3% increase from 1 September 2027. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk) The 2026 text also makes a wider set of conditions changes. Its introductory summary refers to a non-consolidated recognition reward scheme, streamlined salary safeguarding, clearer rules on upper pay range progression, more flexibility around inset days, added clarity on leaders’ working time, and the move to make last year’s temporary TLR 1 and TLR 2 provision mandatory from 1 September 2026. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)
The Order revokes the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions (England) Order 2025 and replaces it as the live annual instrument for maintained-school teacher pay and conditions in England. The explanatory material also states that no full impact assessment was produced because no impact on the private or voluntary sector is foreseen and no significant impact on the public sector is foreseen. (legalize.dev) For employers, the immediate issue is implementation rather than legal uncertainty. The 2026 document states that the statutory requirements for teachers’ pay and conditions in maintained schools are set out in the document itself and must be observed by schools and local authorities, while the statutory guidance should be followed unless there is a good reason to depart from it. Schools will now need to align pay policies, salary notifications and autumn-term administration with the 2026 text, treating 1 September 2026 as the operative date. (gov.uk)