Archibald welcomes multi-year pay offer for further education lecturers in Northern Ireland

Economy Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald has welcomed a multi-year pay offer for further education (FE) lecturers.

Working within its 2025/26 available budget, and with a commitment from the FE colleges to realise efficiencies, the Department for the Economy has provided a budget envelope to the colleges which enables them to make a multi-year pay offer for FE lecturers. The pay offer includes a 5.5% pay increase for 2024/25 and a 3.0% pay increase for 2025/26.

The Minister said: “Further education is a critical part of our economic infrastructure. The expertise of our further education lecturers is key to supporting people achieve their potential and providing the skills needed for our economy. I am therefore pleased to facilitate this multi-year pay offer which provides a further step towards parity with teachers for 2024/25, and which provides a pay increase for 2025/26.”

It is hoped that this offer will be accepted and bring an end to the ongoing industrial action by further education lecturers.