Main NI teaching unions vote to accept pay deal

A formal offer on teachers’ pay for 2021, 2022 and 2023 has been accepted by Northern Ireland’s five main teaching unions.

The pay settlement agreed by the Teachers’ Negotiating Committee (TNC) includes a rise in the starting salary for teachers in Northern Ireland to £30,000. This is a 24.3% increase from the current starting salary and brings the starting point equal to England.

Education Minister Paul Givan said: “I am pleased that the five trade unions which make up the Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council (NITC) have formally accepted a pay offer today on behalf of their members. This settlement will see the end to all industrial action by teachers and school leaders which has been ongoing since May 2022.”

The settlement also represents the equivalent of a cumulative total of 10.4% plus £1,000 consolidated increase being applied to the other teachers’ and leadership pay scales.

The Minister added: “Teachers and school leaders play a vital role in the Northern Ireland education system, and I want to put on record my appreciation for the hard work they do on a daily basis.

“The cessation of industrial action will increase stability in our schools and provide the basis for continued improvement throughout the education sector.”

Also commenting on progress with the Education Authority Pay and Grading review for support staff, the Minister added: “I am very encouraged that business case approval has now been received from the Department of Finance to enable issues to be progressed with the current grading structure for support staff.

“This has been a major challenge for schools in recent years and resolution of this issue will improve the recruitment and retention of support staff.

“However, significant additional funding will be required to enable the preferred option to be implemented and I have submitted a bid for the required additional funding of c.£180m and associated recurrent funding of c.£90m as part of the 2024/25 budget round.”