Teachers in Northern Ireland vote to accept pay offer

By Rebecca Black (PA)

Teachers in Northern Ireland have voted to accept a pay offer following a long-running campaign.

The offer will see the starting salary for teachers in the region rise to £30,000, equating to a 24.3% increase and making it equal to England.

The proposal has been described as a cumulative total of 10.4% plus £1,000 being applied to the other teachers’ and leadership pay scales.

The NASUWT said members voted to accept the terms of the 2021-24 pay offer.

The union said that 82% of their members who responded to the pay survey voted in favour of implementing the offer, with a turnout of 63%.

It is now set to consider the results of the survey ahead of the Teachers’ Negotiating Committee meeting on March 26.

NASUWT general secretary Dr Patrick Roach criticised the wait for a “credible pay offer”.

“Northern Ireland teachers are long overdue a pay award. It is disgraceful that teachers have had to wait for three years to receive a credible pay offer,” he said.

“Nevertheless, the teaching profession deserves real terms pay restoration which must now be a priority.

“Pay is only one of our concerns for Northern Ireland’s hard-working and dedicated teachers. The department and employers must now deliver on the commitments they have made to tackle excessive workload if they do not want action short of strike to be a long-term part of the education landscape in schools.”

NASUWT national official Justin McCamphill added: “Teachers deserve a decent pay increase and should never have been forced to take to the streets to demand it. It is now incumbent on the Minister of Education to prepare for the commencement of negotiations for 2024-25.

“Restoration of teachers’ pay to where it should be will require above-inflation pay awards going forward. The new Executive needs to plan for this when they set a budget in the new financial year.”