A formal ballot for teachers’ industrial action is to be held by the National Education Union (NEU).

From October 3 to December 15, teachers and support staff in state-maintained schools across the country will be able to vote on whether to take strike action over pay and funding, the union confirmed on Saturday.

The announcement said that the School Teachers' Review Body (STRB) report recommendations and the decisions of the Chancellor and Education Secretary are not expected to deliver a fully-funded pay offer for teachers that surpasses inflation.

According to early reports, the STRB and Chancellor’s decisions are also not predicted to result in adequate funding that would support schools in avoiding redundancies and workload increases.

The NEU warned that unless the Government takes ‘urgent action to address these issues’, it will formally ballot its members for strike action in autumn.

Results from earlier NEU indicative ballots (from February to April) revealed that teachers and support staff in England ‘voted overwhelmingly in support of strike action’ relating to pay, funding and workload issues.

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said: ‘Enough is enough. Unfunded below-inflation pay increases are an insult. The Government is well aware that schools do not have the money to fund them. If ministers insist that any pay rise must be carved out of already decimated school budgets, then it is a wilful rejection of reality.’

He added: ‘No member wants to be taking strike action. To avoid this collision course the government needs to step up and deliver the properly funded education system our children and young people deserve. It is time to save education.’

A Department for Education spokesperson reportedly said: ‘Ultimately, it will be children, young people and hard-working parents who will pay the price for any industrial action.’