SWINDON is in the bottom 30 authorities in the country for teacher’s pay and has one of the lowest average salary rates in the South West region.

The average annual salary for teachers in the town is £36,475, which is £1,325 less than the average for teachers throughout the rest of the UK.

Figures released last month by the Department for Education put teachers in Swindon below Wiltshire (£36,722), Oxfordshire (£36,776) and Bath and North East Somerset (£37,247).

Andy Woolley, regional secretary of the NUT, said: “It would be fair to say teachers are paid less on average in the South West because we have been hit hard by funding cuts and because of the imposition of academy status."

Members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) took industrial action across the country over pay and working conditions earlier this month.

Mr Woolley added: “Our schools are really suffering. They have less money than they have ever had before. It is a real problem and a major crisis and one of the main reasons we went on strike.

“It’s putting incredible strain on schools meaning larger class sizes and subject choices being much more limited.

“We’re also seeing an ever bigger turnover of teachers, which means there’s a staffing crisis as well and we in the South West really suffer from that.”

There are 2,083 teachers in Swindon and just under 2,000 teaching assistants. That compares to 4,633 teachers in Wiltshire, 5,690 in Oxfordshire and 1,872 in Bath and North East Somerset.

A spokesman from Swindon Borough Council said: “Councils do not set teachers’ pay.

“For maintained schools it is set under the national Schools Teachers’ Terms and Conditions Document, which takes into account a range of issues including teachers’ experience and location. This approach is also we understand adopted by independent academy schools locally.

“Average pay figures per area are also determined by the proportion of teachers in leadership roles, as those staff are more common in larger schools and are paid on different scales. Pay is also linked to performance, assessed against national teacher standards.

“Swindon Borough Council welcomes the fact that funding for schools will be delivered by a national funding formula from 2018/19 which will help address large variances in per pupil funding, as Swindon has historically been comparatively poorly funded in this area.”

The areas offering the top average salaries are Camden (£44,758), Barking and Dagenham (£44,363) and Haringey (£43,816).

A spokesman from the Department for Education said: “We want all schools to have the resources they need so that every pupil has access to an excellent education.

“Along with the record levels of funding for schools announced at the spending review, and our commitment to the pupil premium for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, we are introducing fairer funding for schools which will set a common foundation that will enable them to maximise the potential of every child.”