Commenting on figures showing that teachers are on average £5000 worse off in real terms due to the continuation of the public sector pay cap, whilst the number of new teachers has dropped by 10% compared with last year, Lib Dem Education Spokesperson Layla Moran said:

“This is just another example of the Conservatives failing the education sector.

“There are less new teachers entering the industry and existing staff are all too often overworked and underpaid.

“It is time the government lifted their cap on public sector pay and ensured that teachers are not exploited in the essential work that they do.”

Notes:

Figures on real terms wage drop for teachers is taken from here

Figures on numbers of new teachers are available here

Figures have been processed for Layla Moran MP, the Lib Dem spokesperson on education and by Cllr Prof John Howson, an authority on the labour market in schools and a onetime adviser to government on teacher supply. He is also leads for the Lib Dem on education on Oxfordshire County Council.

The data provided by UCAS was taken from their website and compares offers – placed and conditional firm offers – on the same date in August in 2016 and 2017. Data is provided in the accompanying table.

Teach First numbers are excluded from all the calculations