Education Authority cuts cannot be delivered, warn unions

The Northern Ireland Teachers' Council (NITC), an umbrella body for five unions, met on Monday to discuss a response to the budget set by Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris in November. The unions said the education system was already in a state of crisis and they would resist cuts.

Mr Heaton-Harris was forced to set a budget after the collapse of the Stormont institutions when the DUP withdrew support as part of its protest against the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol. After a deadline to restore the executive passed in October, civil servants were left in control of government departments.

In his budget Mr Heaton-Harris increased education spending, but delivered a warning that the current spending trajectory would have to be curtailed. He said this will affect the block grant of the EA, which is responsible for the day-to-day funding of schools and school services in Northern Ireland.

It has been reported that the EA may need to find about £100 million in savings from its block grant in the current financial year. An NITC statement said: "It is the considered view of the NITC that what is being demanded of EA is both unreasonable and impractical, coming as it does on the back of a decade of inadequate funding for the education sector.

"A further £100 million cut to the education budget in the last financial quarter of this year is simply impossible to deliver and indicates that the Secretary of State has no understanding or appreciation of the already sorry state the Northern Ireland education system is in."

Gerry Murphy, NITC chairman, said: "The NITC is calling upon the Secretary of State to withdraw this ridiculous budget and come back with a budget that will meet the needs of learners and ensure financial stability going forward.

"Anything less will simply result in greater long-term damage to our children and young people and society as a whole." Justin McCamphill, secretary of the NITC, added: "Education is already in a state of crisis after over a decade of real-terms cuts to budgets.

"The Education Authority has been placed in an invidious situation in being tasked to make cuts which will harm children and young people. "Cuts of the magnitude demanded by the Secretary of State will inevitably lead to the withdrawal of non-statutory provision but will also lead to the withdrawal of statutory services, many of which our most vulnerable children are reliant upon.

"The five trade unions which make up the NITC are determined to resist these cuts and will work with support staff unions to be a collective voice for the sector."

The NITC is an umbrella body comprised of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, NASUWT, Ulster Teachers' Union, National Education Union and the National Association of Head Teachers in Northern Ireland. A Northern Ireland Office spokesperson said: "The Northern Ireland Budget Bill prioritises spending in health and education, with the overarching objective of protecting the most vulnerable during a time of particular economic hardship.

"The previous Executive failed to agree a Budget and the Northern Ireland ministers who remained in their posts during the six months from May to October 2022, left Northern Ireland's public finances with a black hole of some £660m.

"With no Executive in place, the Secretary of State has had no choice but to step in to deliver a budget for Northern Ireland." The Department of Education has also been approached for comment.