Why was action taken?
Since the implementation of the pay-freeze in 2010-11, teachers had lost over 20% of their ‘real-terms’ pay. This saw the value of the profession devalue as a career choice to the detriment of teachers, pupils, and society alike.
Our action short of strike plan asked members to embed these actions in their school practice, acting as one with the five teacher unions that make up the NITC.
On pay parity. What about us?
The 2023 6.5% award to teachers in England and Wales raises questions about ‘parity-pay’ in particular in Northern Ireland.
At the time of the pay settlement in April 2020, Northern Ireland’s teachers were parity-level on the teachers Main-scale, and slightly ahead of England and Wales on the Upper pay scale but have regressed since.
The 6.5% in England and Wales normally produces a “Stormont consequential” – broadly a formulaic pro-rata amount for Northern Ireland. However, this ‘consequential’ is not necessarily ring-fenced to education, still less teachers’ pay. It’s a sum that goes into the broader Northern Ireland budgetary ‘pot’.
And difficulties arise from this:
- First, was 6.5% enough? As the updated table below shows, the awards in England and Wales in 2021-22 and 2022-23, with a further gap with Scottish teachers, left us a long way behind!
- Second, it was not self-evident that this 6.5% would be offered. In our estimation, the Secretary of State, Chris Heaton-Harris could have simply deducted that quotient from the monies ‘owed’ to the UK Exchequer as overspent by the Executive and Assembly in past spending rounds.
- Third, Heaton Harris obliged the NICS to undertake a revenue raising exercise in which areas such as water-charges, prescription charges, charging for school meals and buses have been ‘trailed’ as options. This, undoubtedly, is an exercise in pressurizing the reformation of the Stormont executive, similar to that undertaken by Labour’s Peter Hain in previous times.
In short, NEU – with other teachers and education unions – pressed for clarity on the worrying slide away from ‘parity pay’ for teachers.
