Teaching unions sent 5.5% pay offer for members, backdated to last September

Teachers have been offered a 5.5% pay rise backdated to last September, in a move their employers will hope will be accepted by union members.

The offer is expected to cost the Northern Ireland Executive about £49m in 2024/25. It was sent to the four main teaching unions on Friday.

It will now be up to the members to decide whether to accept. Unions are expected to recommend acceptance, according to the BBC.

The deal also includes new agreements on teacher workloads, while the unions will be asked to agree that “industrial action should only be taken as a last resort in any dispute”.

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Unions members in December voted for industrial action, but this was suspended to allow more time for talks.

The Employers, the Department of Education, Education Authority and the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) said the offer is being made “notwithstanding the unprecedented financial challenges faced by the education system”.

“We firmly believe that this formal offer provides a significant and fair pay increase for our teaching staff and will positively impact teachers' workload concerns,” they wrote in a letter to the unions, the BBC reported.

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