A summer of school closures looms for families in England after a fourth teaching union voted to reject the Government’s pay offer. 

The NASUWT teaching union has announced it will ballot its members for industrial action after 87 per cent said “no” to the pay proposal.

The move could see the union’s teachers in England take strike action alongside the National Education Union (NEU).

Earlier this week, the NEU announced five days of strikes in the summer term, which will see thousands of children sent home.

It is also preparing strikes in the autumn term if it secures a mandate from members for another six months of strikes from August.

A consultative survey by NASUWT found that 77 per cent of its members support industrial action.

It is the fourth union to reject the Government’s offer of a £1,000 bonus for the current school year and an average 4.5 per cent pay rise next year.

The Government offered additional funding to cover 0.5 per cent of the pay rise, having already allocated an additional £2.3 billion for schools this year and next year.

An 'insulting' offer

The NEU called the offer “insulting”, while school leaders’ unions ASCL and NAHT also rejected the offer.

Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary said: “Today, the NASUWT is putting the Secretary of State for Education on notice of our intention to ballot our members for industrial action.

 “The Government’s pay offer failed to come close to addressing the concerns over pay and working conditions of teachers and this has rightly been rejected by our members.

 “Gillian Keegan has said that she is willing to negotiate and to listen to the profession. She must now demonstrate that she means what she says by getting back around the negotiating table to find a resolution to our dispute.

 “The onus is now on the Government to come forward with a fully-funded pay offer that will be acceptable to the profession.”

The Department for Education has said the decision by unions to reject the deal “will simply result in more disruption for children and less money for teachers today."