How appraisal decides teacher pay progression

In maintained schools in England, your pay moves up the range only after your school has considered a written pay recommendation that comes out of your annual appraisal. The school’s governing body (or the local authority for some teachers) makes the final decision under its own pay policy. The rules sit in the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD), valid from 1 September 2026.

What the document requires

The employer must consider every year whether to increase the salary of each teacher who has completed a year of employment since the last annual pay decision. Pay is determined with effect from 1 September, and you must be told the outcome in writing within a month of the decision.

For every teacher, a written pay recommendation is required following the school’s appraisal arrangements, and the decision-makers must have regard to it. The school’s pay policy must set out how progression will be decided. Teachers and recognised unions should be consulted on that policy and any changes, and you should be able to get a copy easily.

Academies are not bound by the STPCD, though many follow it in their contracts. Check your own contract and the trust’s pay policy. The academies and maintained schools guide covers the difference.

When progression can be withheld

The document limits the reasons. Which limit applies depends on your school’s pay policy:

• If the school has kept performance-related pay, it may withhold progression only for reasons related to poor performance.
• If it has chosen not to keep performance-related pay, progression can be withheld only if you are in capability proceedings.

The Department for Education’s 2024 appraisal guidance also notes that the requirement for performance-related pay has been removed, so schools can put more weight on professional development. Your school’s pay policy tells you which approach it takes.

If you are in capability proceedings, the DfE model policy says pay progression should be withheld while you are in them. The capability procedure guide explains the stages.

How the appraisal year runs

The DfE guidance describes a 12-month cycle. Objectives are set in the autumn term. If you and your appraiser cannot agree them, the appraiser sets them, and you can record your disagreement in writing so it is taken into account at review. Performance is reviewed through the spring and summer, and at the end of the year you must receive an appraisal report.

That report should include your objectives, an assessment against them and against the Teachers’ Standards, your development needs, a discussion of workload, wellbeing and career aspirations, and a pay recommendation where relevant. Objectives should not rest on teacher-generated data and predictions, or solely on assessment data for one group of pupils, and numerical targets should not be set where achieving them is outside the teacher’s control.

Appraisal rules do not apply to teachers serving induction or those in capability procedures, or to contracts of less than a term.

Early career teachers

For ECTs, progression is judged through the statutory induction process rather than ordinary appraisal. The STPCD says ECTs must not be disadvantaged by induction now lasting two years, and that a school can still award progression at the end of the first year. The ECT induction guide covers the assessments.

The upper pay range

Moving from the main range to the upper range works differently, because you apply. The governing body must be satisfied that you are highly competent in all elements of the relevant standards and that your achievements and contribution to an educational setting or settings are substantial and sustained. It has to look at your appraisal reports as a whole. Once on the upper range, progression must be decided at least every two years, although appraisal itself stays annual. See the upper pay range guide for what happens when you change school.

For the current pay ranges, the teacher pay scales guide has the figures.

What to check

• Read your school’s pay policy: does it keep performance-related pay, and when is the annual review date?
• Look for the written notice of your pay decision. It should arrive within a month and say where the policy and staffing structure can be seen.
• Keep your own copy of objectives, any written disagreement and your appraisal report.
• If a decision looks wrong, use the pay grievance procedure. Your union and Acas can explain how it works. The grievance guide sets out the general steps.