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1 May 2011
Last updated at 08:20 ET
By Angela Harrison
Education correspondent, BBC News, Brighton
Head teachers have voted overwhelmingly to stage a ballot on whether to strike over planned changes to their pensions.
The move was backed by 99.6% of delegates at the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) at their annual conference in Brighton.
Thousands of schools in England and Wales could be affected in what would be the union's first national strike.
The government is talking to unions and urging them not to pre-empt the release of its firm plans on state pensions.
That announcement is due in the autumn.
A review led by Lord Hutton called for final salary schemes to be replaced by those based on the average salary in a career and said public sector workers should retire later, in line with a rising state pension age.
The vote came shortly before Education Secretary Michael Gove addressed delegates at the conference.
He told heads that reform to pensions was neccssary but that in government he would be a champion and voice for education professionals.
He said tough decisions needed to made but he wanted to work with heads to get the best possible outcome.
'Real betrayal' The NAHT is the third teaching union to vote to ballot its members on pensions.
The National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers passed similar resolutions in the past few weeks.
Like other public sector workers, heads and teachers will pay increased pensions contributions from next April.
They say changes being proposed will mean they will have to work longer for less money and that, on average, a head teacher will lose about £100,000 from their pension.
Continue reading the main story “Start Quote
Gail Larkin, the head of Auriol Junior School, in Epsom, Surrey, said: "We are already struggling trying to recruit good people and if they are not going to be rewarded with a really good pension, then I don't think they will want to do the job."
The government has said it will announce firm proposals for all public sector pensions in the autumn, though an outline of them will be made by the end of June. It is considering the Hutton review findings.
It aims to set out "general principles" for changes to teachers' pensions in England and Wales by the end of June. Teachers' pensions in Scotland and Northern Ireland are decided by the national administrations and no plans to change them have been announced.
Schools minister Nick Gibb recently told a teachers' conference that public service pensions should remain a gold standard - but that rising costs and greater life expectancy meant reform was needed.
Ahead of the vote Russell Hobby, general secretary of the NAHT - which has members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - said heads felt angry and betrayed.
Many see the pension scheme as a reward for their accepting lower pay than than they might have earned in the private sector, he said.
"They rightly see the proposals as an attack on the fair rewards from a lifetime of public service, " he continued.
"We are seeing a loss of about £100,000 from an average head teachers' pension. That feels like a real betrayal to the profession."
The NAHT is strongest in primary schools - where it says it represents 85% of heads in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It says it represents 40% of secondary heads.
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The move was backed by 99.6% of delegates at the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) at their annual conference in Brighton.
Thousands of schools in England and Wales could be affected in what would be the union's first national strike.
The government is talking to unions and urging them not to pre-empt the release of its firm plans on state pensions.
That announcement is due in the autumn.
A review led by Lord Hutton called for final salary schemes to be replaced by those based on the average salary in a career and said public sector workers should retire later, in line with a rising state pension age.
The vote came shortly before Education Secretary Michael Gove addressed delegates at the conference.
He told heads that reform to pensions was neccssary but that in government he would be a champion and voice for education professionals.
He said tough decisions needed to made but he wanted to work with heads to get the best possible outcome.
'Real betrayal' The NAHT is the third teaching union to vote to ballot its members on pensions.
The National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers passed similar resolutions in the past few weeks.
Like other public sector workers, heads and teachers will pay increased pensions contributions from next April.
They say changes being proposed will mean they will have to work longer for less money and that, on average, a head teacher will lose about £100,000 from their pension.
Continue reading the main story “Start Quote
They rightly see the proposals as an attack on the fair rewards from a lifetime of public service”
End Quote
Russell Hobby
General Secretary, NAHT
Gail Larkin, the head of Auriol Junior School, in Epsom, Surrey, said: "We are already struggling trying to recruit good people and if they are not going to be rewarded with a really good pension, then I don't think they will want to do the job."
The government has said it will announce firm proposals for all public sector pensions in the autumn, though an outline of them will be made by the end of June. It is considering the Hutton review findings.
It aims to set out "general principles" for changes to teachers' pensions in England and Wales by the end of June. Teachers' pensions in Scotland and Northern Ireland are decided by the national administrations and no plans to change them have been announced.
Schools minister Nick Gibb recently told a teachers' conference that public service pensions should remain a gold standard - but that rising costs and greater life expectancy meant reform was needed.
Ahead of the vote Russell Hobby, general secretary of the NAHT - which has members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - said heads felt angry and betrayed.
Many see the pension scheme as a reward for their accepting lower pay than than they might have earned in the private sector, he said.
"They rightly see the proposals as an attack on the fair rewards from a lifetime of public service, " he continued.
"We are seeing a loss of about £100,000 from an average head teachers' pension. That feels like a real betrayal to the profession."
The NAHT is strongest in primary schools - where it says it represents 85% of heads in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It says it represents 40% of secondary heads.
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