NI teaching unions urge Chris Heaton-Harris to match 6.5% pay award made in England

On Monday it was confirmed members of the largest teaching union in England accepted a 6.5% pay rise for teachers and voted to end strikes.

With the Stormont Assembly still collapsed, NI Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris is facing a call to match the deal for teachers in the province.

The NASUWT said the 6.5% offered to teachers in England comes after a 5% increase last year while teachers and further education lecturers in NI have not had a pay increase for three years.

Justin McCamphill, NASUWT national official NI, said it is unacceptable that teachers across the UK are being treated differently, and that members in NI “are not prepared to stand by while their pay dwindles and their living costs rise”.

“If the prime minister believes that 5% last year and 6.5% this year is good enough for teachers in England, it is simply not acceptable that ministers in his government would treat other UK teachers in a worse manner,” he said.

Mr McCamphill warned that his union is prepared to escalate industrial action.

“We are also prepared to engage constructively in talks with the relevant government departments and employers to begin the process of pay restoration,” he said.

“Key to this will be the UK government ensuring that the Northern Ireland public sector is adequately resourced. The secretary of state needs to urgently intervene.”

An NIO spokesperson said the UK government “has no authority to negotiate pay” in NI adding: “It will be for the NI Department of Education to make final decisions on teachers’ pay policies.

“It remains the secretary of state’s priority to see the return of locally elected, accountable and effective devolved government, which is the best way for Northern Ireland to be governed.

“The secretary of state has commissioned a range of information and advice from the NI Civil Service on potential measures to raise more public revenue, or otherwise to improve the sustainability of public finances in Northern Ireland, for an incoming executive to consider.”