As part of the plans, entry level teachers in outer and inner London will see their salaries increase to £30,000 and £32,000 respectively.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said the proposed changes represent a significant step towards meeting the government’s commitment to increase teachers’ starting salaries to £30,000 by September 2022.

Experienced teachers, heads and school leaders would see an above inflation pay increase of 2.5 per cent to their pay ranges, with early career teachers’ salaries increasing by up to 6.7 per cent.

Williamson said the changes to the pay system could stop over 1,000 teachers per year quitting the profession by 2022/23.

He said: “We want to make teaching attractive to the most talented graduates by recognising the prestige that we as a society place on the profession.

“We have set out proposals to significantly raise starting salaries for new teachers to £26,000 next year, rising to £30,000 by September 2022, alongside above-inflation pay increases for senior teachers and school leaders. These mark the biggest reform to teacher pay in a generation.”

The government said it plans to invest an extra £14bn in schools over the next three years – starting with an additional £2.6bn in 2020-21 and rising to £7.1bn more in 2022-23, compared to 2019-20 levels.

The government has submitted the proposals to the independent School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), who will consider them and respond with their recommendations later in the year.