Schools, Academies & Education

Posted on: 2 October 2026

Dear Members,

We have received a final pay offer from United Learning Trust for 2026/27.

This offer is for those members directly employed on a United Learning Contract. If you are on a TUPE contract this offer does not apply to you.

The 2026 United Learning Academy Support Staff Annual Pay offer is for one year and is as follows:

• 3.5% increase on all support staff salaries matching the offer made to teachers.
• The above increase would result in a minimum FTE pay rate of £25,896 per annum (£13.28 per hour) outside London, £29,874 per annum (£15.32 per hour) in Outer London, and £31,551 per annum (£16.18 per hour) in Inner London.
• The offer would result in an increase to the minimum FTE rate of pay for pupil-facing support staff to £26,832 per annum (£13.76 per hour) outside London, £30,712 per annum (£15.75 per hour) in Outer London and £32,448 per annum (£16.64 per hour) in Inner London.

Through negotiations, the Trust has offered an increase in maternity and adoption pay entitlement by 2 weeks full pay. This will be effective from 1st September 2026 and apply to all individuals who start maternity or adoption leave on or after this date.

For a summary of the employer’s response to our pay claim, and for details of the pay ballot, please read this bulletin:

ULT Ballot Bulletin.pdf

Kind regards,

Stacey Booth

National Officer

Posted on: 7 May 2026

Dear Members,

Thank you for your engagement with the United Learning Trust survey. This year’s pay claim has been compiled and submitted to the trust today based on the feedback you provided.

You can read the pay claim here: United Learning pay claim 2026-27.pdf

This pay claim is for all ULT members not covered by TUPE arrangements, this means those members who are contractually employed on ULT pay and conditions.

ULT and the joint trade unions (GMB and Unison) will be meeting to discuss the claim in the coming weeks and any further updates will follow in due course.

If you have received this information in error, it might be that we do not hold accurate data for you and would strongly advise that, to prevent any future issues, you update your details through the My GMB section of the website, by logging in at Make Work Better | GMB Union.

If your employment has changed you will be unable to amend that on-line and would advise that you contact your GMB regional office. You can find your office’s contact details here: GMB Regions | GMB Union.

Finally, if you have any questions or concerns, or if you would like to get more involved and have an active role in negotiations by becoming a GMB representative at work, or would like more information about what the role entails please contact email us at schools@gmb.org.uk.

Thanks,

Stacey Booth

GMB National Officer for United Learning Trust

Posted on: 12 November 2025

Dear Members,

Following the rejection of this year’s pay offer GMB wrote immediately to the trust requesting an urgent meeting to discuss the response from members and to urge the trust to reconsider the original offer of 3.2% and seek to improve this.

The trust agreed to discuss the response and duly consider the rejection from GMB members.

We received a response from the trust late on Monday evening. The trust responded to say that they had met to discuss and reconsider the offer at an executive meeting on Monday afternoon to look at whether or not there could be improvements made to the offer. They said that unfortunately it was not considered possible to improve the offer, due to affordability and the challenging budget position. They also said there is some uncertainty about future implications of the SSSNB on the pay and benefit structure.

The trust also noted that Unison had accepted the offer and although it was rejected by GMB it was a narrow rejection of 54%.

GMB officers from across regions have met to discuss the response from the trust, the rejection vote and the percentage turnout and there was a consensus that all those factors combined fall short of what is required to go forward to a full formal postal ballot and, reluctantly, it was decided to accept the full and final offer which will now conclude this year's pay negotiations.

Thank you again for your engagement and for those of you who have joined throughout the process. If you want to become more involved in next year’s campaign or to campaign on an issue in your school, please get in touch by emailing schools@gmb.org.uk.

Posted on: 7 November 2025

Dear Members,

The United Learning Trust 2025/26 pay ballot has now closed. Thank you to everyone who voted, and welcome to those who joined during the ballot period.

Members have voted to reject the offer. Please see the results below:

Accept – 46%

Reject – 54%

We have informed United Learning Trust and have asked for a meeting. We will be in touch with next steps once we have them.

This pay offer is for all ULT members not covered by TUPE arrangements, this means those members who are contractually employed on ULT pay and conditions.

Kind regards,

Stacey Booth

National Officer

Posted on: 9 October 2025

Dear Members,

We have received a final pay offer from United Learning Trust for 2025/26.

This offer is for those members directly employed on a United Learning Contract. If you are on a TUPE contract this offer does not apply to you.

The 2025 United Learning Academy Support Staff Annual Pay offer is for one year and is as follows:

• With effect from 1^st September 2025, a 3.2% increase on all support staff salaries.
• The above increase would result in a minimum FTE pay rate of £24,978 per annum (£12.81 per hour) outside London, £28,645 per annum (£14.69 per hour) in Outer London, and £30,239 per annum (£15.50 per hour) in Inner London, with effect from 1^st September 2025.
• The offer would result in an increase to the minimum FTE rate of pay for pupil-facing support staff to £25,718 per annum (£13.19 per hour) outside London, £29,490 per annum (£15.12 per hour) in Outer London and £31,119 per annum (£15.96 per hour) in Inner London, with effect from 1^st September 2025.

For a summary of the employer’s response to our pay claim, and for details of the pay ballot, please read this bulletin:

ult-ballot-comms-to-members-online.pdf 

Kind regards,

Stacey Booth

National Officer

Posted on: 9 April 2025

Dear Members,

Thank you for your engagement with the United Learning Trust survey. This year’s pay claim has been compiled and submitted to the trust today based on the feedback you provided.

You can read the pay claim here: 202526-united-learning-trust-pay-claim-final.pdf.

This pay claim is for all ULT members not covered by TUPE arrangements, this means those members who are contractually employed on ULT pay and conditions.

ULT and the joint trade unions (GMB and Unison) will be meeting to discuss the claim in the coming weeks and any further updates will follow in due course.

If you have received this information in error, it might be that we do not hold accurate data for you and would strongly advise that, to prevent any future issues, you update your details through the My GMB section of the website, by logging in at Make Work Better | GMB Union.

If your employment has changed you will be unable to amend that on-line and would advise that you contact your GMB regional office. You can find your office’s contact details here: GMB Regions | GMB Union.

Finally, if you have any other questions or concerns, please e-mail schools@gmb.org.uk and we will respond to you directly.

Thanks,

Stacey Booth

GMB National Officer for United Learning Trust

Posted on: 25 October 2024

Dear Members,

The United Learning Trust 2024/25 pay ballot. Members have voted to accept the offer. Please see the results below:

Accept – 66%

Reject – 34%

We will notify your employer of the result and request that they implement the pay deal as soon as possible.

This pay deal is for all ULT members not covered by TUPE arrangements, this means those members who are contractually employed on ULT pay and conditions.

Kind regards,

Stacey Booth

National Officer

Posted on: 7 October 2024

Dear Members,

We have now received a final pay offer from United Learning Trust, which you can read here ul-academy-support-staff-pay-offer-2024-revised.pdf.

For a summary of the employers response to our pay claim, and for details of the pay ballot, please read this bulletin: ult-online-comms-to-members-07-10-24.pdf.

Kind regards,

Stacey Booth

National Officer

Posted on: 23 April 2024

Dear GMB Member,

The Joint Union pay claim has been submitted to United Learning Trust for their consideration. You can read the pay claim here: united-learning-pay-claim-2425-final.pdf.

This pay claim is for all ULT members not covered by TUPE arrangements, this means those members who are contractually employed on ULT pay and conditions.

ULT and the Joint Trade Unions will be meeting to discuss the claim in the coming weeks and any further updates will follow in due course.

If you have received this information in error, it might be because we do not hold accurate data.

Please complete this short survey to tell us what contract you are on: https://forms.office.com/e/bnYAsVfvbR.

In order to keep our records up to date, please update your details if there have been any changes by logging into your GMB account Make Work Better | GMB Union.

If there have been changes to your employment, please update your details by contacting your GMB regional office.

Thanks,

Stacey Booth

GMB National Officer