How to Move Up the Leadership Pay Scale

The two ways leadership pay increases

There are only two mechanisms, and confusing them wastes a lot of energy. The first is progression within your existing individual school range. The second is a change to the range itself. They involve different evidence, different decision-makers and different timescales.

On top of both, the annual STPCD pay award lifts every spine point — 3.5% for 2026/27. That is not progression; it applies whether or not you move point. Details are on the teacher pay rise page.

Progressing within your individual school range

Your ISR is a seven-point slice of the leadership spine. When you were appointed you started somewhere in it — often at the bottom, sometimes a point or two up if you negotiated well. Progression moves you towards the top.

The performance standard

The STPCD requires that leadership progression reflects sustained high quality of performance, judged against your objectives and the relevant standards. This is a materially higher bar than the classroom teacher standard, where progression is normally annual subject to satisfactory performance.

Most schools interpret sustained as meaning two consecutive successful review cycles. Some award a point annually where performance is consistently strong; others are considerably more restrictive. Your school's pay policy sets this out and you are entitled to see it.

What actually counts as evidence

• Outcomes against your specific objectives — not the school's general performance, but the parts you own.
• Impact data with a clear causal story — attendance, behaviour, outcomes, staff retention in your area of responsibility.
• Evidence of impact beyond your own remit — leading trust-wide work, supporting another school, external recognition.
• Development of others — colleagues you have coached into promotion or improved practice.
• Handling of a significant challenge — an inspection, a restructure, a safeguarding case handled well.

Who actually decides

Your reviewer makes a recommendation. The pay committee of the governing body makes the decision. This separation is deliberate and it matters when things go wrong — a supportive line manager cannot guarantee you a point, and an unsupportive one is not the final word.

For a headteacher, the review is conducted by a panel of governors, usually with an external adviser, and the recommendation goes to the pay committee in the same way.

When you have reached the top of your range

This is the position most experienced leaders eventually reach, and the one most guides ignore. Once you are at the top point of your ISR, no amount of good performance will move you. The point itself is the cap.

There are three realistic options.

1. Request a review of the ISR. This only succeeds if the job has genuinely changed — the school has grown, you have taken on a second site or a trust-wide brief, or the structure has been reorganised around you.
2. Negotiate a formally expanded remit. If you want a higher range, propose the additional responsibility that would justify it rather than asking for more money for the same job.
3. Move. A post at a larger school, or a step up from assistant to deputy or from deputy to headteacher, resets you onto a new and higher range.

Making a formal pay review request

If you believe your range no longer reflects the post, put it in writing to the chair of the pay committee. A strong request generally contains a clear description of how the post has changed with dates, quantified evidence such as pupil numbers, staff managed or budget held, benchmarking against comparable posts in similar schools, reference to the relevant clauses of the school pay policy and the STPCD, and a specific proposed range rather than a vague request.

Time it to land before the pay committee meets, which for most schools means the autumn term. A request submitted in June will usually wait until December regardless of its merits.

If the decision goes against you

You are entitled to be told the decision in writing and to understand the reasons. Every school pay policy must include an appeals procedure, and the usual window is ten working days from written notification.

An appeal is normally heard by a different committee of governors. Bring your union representative — NAHT and ASCL both represent school leaders on pay matters and have seen far more of these cases than you have. Appeals succeed most often where the school has failed to follow its own policy, applied criteria inconsistently between postholders, or failed to give reasons.

Acting-up arrangements and temporary higher duties

A route most guides skip: if you temporarily cover a higher leadership post — a deputy leaving mid-year while a replacement is recruited, or a headteacher's extended absence — the school can place you on “acting up” pay. This is not automatic. It must be agreed in writing, it should specify the spine point or range you are paid on during the period, and it should have a defined review date.

Acting-up pay is worth securing properly for two reasons beyond the immediate salary. First, the higher pensionable pay increases your career average pension for every month it runs. Second, documented successful coverage of a senior role is among the strongest evidence you can present at the next pay review or in an application for a permanent promotion. If you are asked to cover without a written arrangement, request one — a verbal promise is difficult to enforce later.

Common mistakes that block progression

• Vague objectives. If your objectives are not measurable, you cannot evidence meeting them.
• Not reading the school pay policy. It defines the criteria you will actually be judged against.
• Confusing performance with post size. Great performance moves you within the range; only a changed job changes the range.
• Missing the timing. Pay decisions cluster in the autumn term.
• Accepting a verbal outcome. Decisions must be confirmed in writing, and the appeal clock runs from that.
• Not benchmarking. Comparable ranges at similar local schools are legitimate and persuasive evidence.
• Forgetting the pension effect. Progression permanently increases your career average pension, so the long-term value exceeds the salary gain.

What progression is actually worth

A single spine point is worth roughly 2.4% of salary. That is a useful benchmark when deciding whether to invest effort in a pay case.

Each point also adds permanently to your pension, because the scheme is career average. A point gained at 45 continues paying into every subsequent year of accrual, which is why early progression is worth disproportionately more than late progression.