Teachers are promised an additional 20% and new guarantees: what will change in salaries starting this autumn

The mechanism of changes in educators’ pay was officially presented on April 1, 2026 by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada. It concerns the continuation of the phased increase in salaries for teaching and research-teaching staff after the already implemented January 1, 2026 rise of 30%. From September 1, 2026 the Ministry proposes another stage – an increase of the base salary by 20%.

But this time it’s not only about the percentages. The ministry wants to change the salary structure to make it less dependent on local decisions. One of the key steps – integrating the allowance for prestige of work directly into the base salary. In other words, that portion of payment which was previously determined differently at the community level should become a guaranteed component of the salary.

Another change concerns the supplement for unfavorable working conditions. The basic 2000 hryvnias provided for all school pedagogical workers are planned to be included in the base salary. For teachers in frontline and border communities where institutions operate in person, an additional 2000 hryvnias above the base salary will be retained, so their total support will remain at 4000 hryvnias. This item is especially sensitive for regions like Mykolaiv region, where educators work under constant pressure of the war.

Separately, the Ministry proposes to withdraw pedagogical and research-teaching staff from the Unified Tariff Grid (UTG). The ministry explains that the current system is too cumbersome: any targeted increase in teachers’ salaries automatically creates a need for additional funds for other categories in the budget sphere. Withdrawal from the UTG should allow the pay mechanism for educators to be made separate and more flexible, and the salary itself – to be tied to the minimum wage.

At the same time, the Ministry emphasizes: this is not the final model yet. Minister Oksen Lisovyi stated that decisions will be made only after agreement with the trade union and wide professional discussions with communities, heads of educational institutions and members of parliament. In parallel, the ministry is already preparing a separate new model for calculating salaries for pedagogical and research-teaching staff, which is planned to be implemented from 2027.

For Mykolaiv and frontline communities this issue is particularly painful also because of finances. Earlier the mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych openly stated that the city does not see sources to cover the expenses of the state increase in teachers’ salaries, and in February in Mykolaiv there were already reports of a shortage of funds for payments in education and culture. So on paper the increase looks attractive, but locally everything again hinges on the financial capacity of the communities.

In fact, the Ministry is trying not just to add a few more percentage points for educators, but to restructure the entire logic of salary so that the base part becomes more protected. For teachers this could mean less dependence on local decisions, and for communities – new pressure on budgets that are already barely holding up during wartime.

Previously we wrote:

• In Mykolaiv region, a school with 40 children employs over 50 staff, – Vitaliy Kim
• There is money, but not for everyone: in Mykolaiv the budget was increased by hundreds of millions, while culture was left on the brink of survival
• In Mykolaiv funds for public-sector employees’ salaries are running out
• Mykolaiv risks delays in salaries for culture and education workers
• Teachers will receive the 30% increased salaries in the coming weeks, – the Ministry of Education