Soulbury
Soulbury
The Soulbury Committee was established in 1948. It exists to provide a collective bargaining forum for the negotiation of salaries and conditions of service for local authority educational improvement professionals advisory staff and other specific professional staffs.
Many of The Education and Children’s Services Group’s members pay terms and conditions are governed by the national Soulbury Committee. Alongside Prospect, professional bodies represented on the Soulbury Committee are: the Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP), and the National Education Union (NEU). Prospect has the largest representation on the Soulbury Committee.
Education and Children’s Services Group statement on the Soulbury 2025 pay award.
Pay negotiations between Prospect, NEU, AEP, and the employer-side concluded in February 2026 in respect of the 2025 Soulbury pay award.
Prospect, AEP and NEU reluctantly accepted the latest pay offer for those employed on Soulbury grades as set out in the Joint Education Services Circular - JESC 238.
This was the best offer that could be achieved through the negotiations, and we wanted to ensure that members were not further delayed from receiving their pay rise. Prospect's Education & Children's Services group remains disappointed that those on Soulbury grades will receive a below inflation pay rise. We are concerned that this undermines the value of Soulbury pay and does not recognise the expertise of those on Soulbury grades. We will continue to make the case in the forthcoming negotiations for 2026 for those employed on Soulbury grades to receive a pay rise that recognises their contribution and will be in touch with members shortly to commence a process of gathering information to inform our 2026 Soulbury pay claim.
Chris Roberts Ben Middleton
Education & Children’s Services Group President Prospect National Secretary