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.”
Notes to editors:
1. 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).
2. Management Side of TNC comprises representatives of all the education employing authorities, sectoral bodies and Department of Education (Education Authority, CCMS, GBA, CnaG, NICIE and DE).
3. The three-year pay offer consists of:
- a consolidated increase of 1% for 2021 (in line with NI Public Sector Pay Policy limits)
- 5% for 2022
- 4.1% plus £1,000 for 2023.
- The starting salary for teachers will rise to £30,000 from 1 September 2023, representing a 24.3% increase in teachers’ starting salary over the three-year period of this pay offer. This will mean that the starting salary for a teacher in Northern Ireland will equal that of the starting salary in England.
4. Pay and Grading review for Support Staff - The preferred option cost in 2024/25 is c.£180m with a recurrent cost thereafter of c.£90m.
5. Further information is available on the Departmental website at https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/articles/teachers-pay-agreement-2021-2023
6. Follow us on Twitter @Education_ni