Education Minister has responded to the
announcement by a number of teachers' unions that they plan to
ballot their members for industrial action over 2024/25 pay.
Earlier this year the Minister provided funding for the
successful resolution of the long running industrial dispute on
teachers' pay for 2021-24.
The pay settlement agreed by the Teachers' Negotiating Committee
(TNC) included a rise in the starting salary for teachers to
£30,000, which equates to a 24.3% increase from the current
starting salary. It also included the equivalent of a cumulative
total of 10.4% plus £1,000 consolidated increase being applied to
the other teachers' and leadership pay scales. This settlement
ended industrial action by teachers in April of this year
Expressing his disappointment the Minister said: “On Monday, the
Executive announced October monitoring allocations and I am
currently considering the implications of the additional
financial allocation to Education.
“It was with disappointment that I was notified today of the
decision by a number of teachers' unions to proceed to ballot
their members for industrial action in the coming weeks.
“Since my appointment as Education Minister, earlier this year my
focus has been on improving the educational experience of all our
children and young people, and on the staff who make that
possible. To that end, I secured Executive funding to resolve the
long running industrial dispute on teachers' pay.
“This agreement ended industrial action by teachers in April, and
I had hoped that this would allow us to increase stability and
work together to improve the educational experience of our
children.
“Any proposals for a teachers' pay award must be affordable and
this is difficult given the current financial pressures, however
we will continue to work with the TNC joint pay group to seek a
resolution.”
Notes to editors:
- The Northern Ireland Teaching Council (NITC) comprises the
five main teaching unions - Irish National Teachers' Organisation
(INTO), National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), National
Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT),
National Education Union (NEU), Ulster Teachers' Union (UTU).
- Management Side of the Teachers' Negotiating Committee (TNC)
comprises representatives of all the education employing
authorities, sectoral bodies and Department of Education
(Education Authority, CCMS, GBA, CnaG, NICIE and DE).
- NITC in June 2024, submitted a pay claim for 13.5%. The UK
Government has accepted a recommended 5.5% increase by the School
Teachers' Review Body for teachers in England.
- NASUWT, UTU and INTO have announced a membership ballot for
industrial action over pay between 25th November and 16th
December.
