Teachers in England to get 3.5% pay rise

She said she worked early mornings, evenings, weekends, and during school holidays when she was teaching - well beyond the hours she was paid for. "The demand within that time was huge, so realistically, you didn't get your work done in that time," she said. "If I came at 8:30am [and] left at 3:30pm, there would be so much question around my commitment to the job." Inflation in the UK was 2.8% in the year to May. That was lower than experts had forecast given the impact of the war in the Middle East on prices, but it is still expected to rise further. Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, said the offer itself was "another step in the right direction so long as we don't see a big spike in inflation", but the partial funding "will mean more pressure on already stretched [school] budgets". Pepe Di'Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, welcomed the pay awards but said the implications for budgets would vary. "It will be very challenging for many schools to find money from their existing budgets in the way that is required," he said. Leora Cruddas, the chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, called new rules for trusts "the latest example of micromanagement from Whitehall". "The government appears to have rushed into these changes without consulting with school trusts to understand their impact," she said. The DfE also said it was giving colleges an additional £485m over two years. …