Teachers attend a march during strike action in a dispute over pay in London. Reuters
Teachers attend a march during strike action in a dispute over pay in London. Reuters
Teachers attend a march during strike action in a dispute over pay in London. Reuters
Teachers attend a march during strike action in a dispute over pay in London. Reuters

Teachers announce new strikes after rejecting pay offer


Gillian Duncan
  • English
  • Arabic

Teachers in England have announced two more strike dates after rejecting the government's latest pay offer.

In total, 98 per cent of National Education Union members voted to turn down the deal, the UK's largest education union said.

Teachers will walkout on Thursday, April 27 and Tuesday, May 2.

However, exam classes will not be interrupted.

The move is a major blow to Rishi Sunak’s government, which had offered a one-time, £1,000 payment to teachers for the 2022-2023 tax year, as well as a 4.3 per cent rise next year.

The NEU said the "insulting" offer was not fully funded and around half of schools would need to make further cuts to cover the pay rises.

"This resounding rejection of the government's offer should leave (education minister) Gillian Keegan in no doubt that she will need to come back to the negotiating table with a much better proposal," NEU joint General Secretaries Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney said in a statement.

"The offer shows an astounding lack of judgement and understanding of the desperate situation in the education system."

Dr Bousted told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme on Monday: "This is a profession which of all the professions having disputes with the government has lost in comparative terms the most pay since 2010."

She said the offer does "virtually nothing" to "start to re-correct" the "long decline" in teachers pay in real terms and claimed the government is using the "tactics of the bully boy" by saying it will remove the offer if it is rejected.

She added: "These strikes... are an indication of the despair that teachers feel about the lack of understanding and the inability to listen to what they are saying on the part of the government.

"Teachers are just now completely fed up of the government saying 'we won't talk to you unless'. That is not the job of a responsible government."

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged teaching unions and the government to get around the negotiating table following reports that teachers have voted to reject the latest pay offer.

Sir Keir told LBC: "I am disappointed because I want to see this resolved. Obviously it is back around the negotiating table now but I would urge both sides to compromise and to come to an agreement as quickly as possible."

The Labour leader added: "Obviously I support their right to take industrial action, it is very important I say that.

"But I will be clear, I don't want to see industrial action and that is why I want the Government around the table resolving this. It is possible to resolve these disputes, and the sooner the Government gets on with that the better."

Meanwhile, teachers in Wales have ended their strike action after voting to accept a pay offer comprising an additional 3 per cent pay award for 2022/23 alongside a 1.5 per cent one-off payment, and a government-funded 5 per cent rise for the following year.

Scotland's largest teaching union has also accepted a pay deal to end long-running strikes, which it said would amount to a 14.6 per cent increase in pay for most teachers by January 2024.

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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Expert input

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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026

1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years

If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.

2. E-invoicing in the UAE

Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption. 

3. More tax audits

Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks. 

4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime

Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.

5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit

There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.

6. Further transfer pricing enforcement

Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes. 

7. Limited time periods for audits

Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion. 

8. Pillar 2 implementation 

Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.

9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services

Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations. 

10. Substance and CbC reporting focus

Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity. 

Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer

War 2

Director: Ayan Mukerji

Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana

Rating: 2/5

T20 World Cup Qualifier

October 18 – November 2

Opening fixtures

Friday, October 18

ICC Academy: 10am, Scotland v Singapore, 2.10pm, Netherlands v Kenya

Zayed Cricket Stadium: 2.10pm, Hong Kong v Ireland, 7.30pm, Oman v UAE

UAE squad

Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Darius D’Silva, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Junaid Siddique, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Waheed Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Zahoor Khan

Players out: Mohammed Naveed, Shaiman Anwar, Qadeer Ahmed

Players in: Junaid Siddique, Darius D’Silva, Waheed Ahmed

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Company%C2%A0profile
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Name: Peter Dicce

Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics

Favourite sport: soccer

Favourite team: Bayern Munich

Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer

Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates 

 

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Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
  • George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
  • Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
  • Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
  • Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills. 
Hunting park to luxury living
  • Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
  • The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
  • Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds

 

Updated: April 03, 2023, 9:11 AM