AQO 1233/22-27 Oral question to the Minister of Education
To ask the Minister of Education for an update on the action he has taken to resolve the teachers' pay claim for 2024-2025.
Asked by Danny Donnelly MLA on 21 November 2024
- Answered
- Oral
- Answered in the Chamber
- Tabled
- 21 November 2024
- Answer due by
- 2 December 2024
- Answered
- 2 December 202411 days after tabling
- Department
- Department of Education
- Priority question
- No
Answer
Answered in the Assembly Chamber on 2 December 2024. Extract from the Official Report (Hansard), including any supplementary questions:
Mr Givan
Through the Teachers' Negotiating Committee (TNC), a joint pay group is operational. Meetings have taken place with employers, sectoral support bodies and the recognised teaching trade unions in the Northern Ireland Teachers' Council (NITC) to explain to and update them on the current financial pressures in education and to discuss the current pay claim from the NITC. The NITC pay claim is substantially higher than what was recommended by the United Kingdom Government and accepted by teachers in England. In line with public-sector pay policy requirements, any proposals for a teachers' pay award must be affordable, and the claim is proving difficult to resolve given the pressures that the Education budget already faces. The chair of the TNC management side has also written to the NITC to formally request a de-escalation and for the ballots for industrial action to be stood down. I will continue to do all that I can to secure funding for an appropriate pay settlement for teachers.
Mr Donnelly
I thank the Minister for his answer. I will declare an interest, as my wife is a teacher. Will the Minister make a pay offer in order to deliver pay parity for teachers in Northern Ireland?
Mr Givan
I very much want to continue the excellent work that I was able to take forward when I came into post, which was to deliver a double-digit percentage increase to teachers' pay. We also brought the starting salary for new graduates from £23,000 up to £30,000, bringing it into line with that in England. That has helped to make sure that our young people who graduate from our training colleges stay in Northern Ireland, and I want to maintain that. I am very committed, in the spirit of cooperation, to trying to get a successful outcome to the negotiations. A number of bodies form the management side, so it is not led entirely by me, but, clearly, my Department has a key role and I have an active position in trying to achieve a resolution. Yes, I want to get a successful outcome, and we are actively engaging with the unions. They had a meeting last week, and that engagement will continue next week. I want to get a positive outcome.