Education News: July 2026

The start of July brought three stories that will shape planning for the autumn term. The government settled teacher pay for the next two years, primary schools were told their SATs results would arrive late after marking problems, and funding was confirmed for the wider free school meals rollout due in September.

Teachers get a multi-year pay deal

The Education Secretary accepted the School Teachers' Review Body recommendations in full, setting a 3.5% pay rise from September 2026 followed by 3% from September 2027. The Department for Education put £700 million towards the first year and £1.1 billion towards the second, though schools have to find the first 1% of each award from their existing budgets. The settlement also introduced approval requirements for academy trust executive salaries above £174,000.

Unions gave a mixed response, welcoming a two-year deal for the certainty it offers while warning that a partially funded award still leaves budget pressure on individual schools. Source: GOV.UK and Tes.

Key stage 2 SATs results delayed to 16 July

Primary schools were told their key stage 2 SATs results would land on 16 July rather than 7 July, a delay of nine days, after technical problems with the marking and data systems run by Pearson. This is the first year Pearson has delivered the tests, having won a four-year contract in 2024, and the company apologised while confirming that GCSE, A-level and vocational results are not affected.

The Education Secretary said the delay would be frustrating for schools arranging pupils' moves to secondary, and for parents and pupils waiting on results. Ministers indicated they were reviewing the contract in light of the failure. Source: Tes and Pearson.

Free school meals funding set ahead of the September expansion

From the start of the 2026 to 2027 academic year, free school meals in England extend to every child in a household receiving Universal Credit, regardless of earnings, which the government expects to reach more than half a million extra pupils. Ahead of that change the DfE has published the free school meals expansion grant for 2026-27, setting out how mainstream, special and alternative provision schools will be funded for the additional meals.

Schools weighing the operational side, from kitchen capacity to take-up, now have the funding framework confirmed for the first phase running from September 2026. Source: GOV.UK and GOV.UK.

What it means for parents and schools

For families, the free school meals change is the one to act on, so check whether your household now qualifies before the autumn term. For primary parents, the SATs delay pushes results into the last full week of term rather than changing what they show. Our guides on how Ofsted ratings work and Progress 8 explain the measures behind the headlines.