2nd April 2025
It was announced on Friday 28th March that following individual consultation with members, the Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council (NITC) was not in a position to ratify an agreement on Management side’s revised formal offer to resolve the teachers’ Pay dispute 2024/25.
The five union executives and the NITC remain committed to finding a resolution to the dispute.
In light of this, the NITC met with the Minister for Education on Friday afternoon and again on Tuesday 1st April.
The meetings were constructive and the importance of resolving the outstanding dispute before Friday 4 April was agreed. The NITC believe that the Minister is taking seriously the need to address teacher workload.
Following the discussions, the Minister wrote to NITC setting out the following actions:
• As an addendum to the offer made by Management Side, he would set up an Independent Review that will cover all aspects of workload,
• The Independent Review would be taken forward by a three-member panel, and it will report by the end of November 2025,
• The Panel will also monitor the implementation of the Heads of Agreement commitments issued alongside the Management Side pay offer.
This proposal has now been formally received by the NITC to allow time for each of the five Executives to consider the addendum and to reach a final decision.
In addition, the Minister has clarified the position in relation to the provision of five school development days for the 2025/26 academic year, and has agreed that the Department would confirm the provision of five days as soon as possible to allow schools to provide a return to EA.
Revised Pay Offer Update 02 April 2025
After the NITC rejected the management side pay award on the 28th of March, The Minister of Education invited the leads from NITC to a series of meetings during which further revisions and addendum to the offer have been negotiated.
The Minister is aware of the volume of workload issues affecting teachers and wants to find a constructive approach to addressing them. He has offered in addition an Independent Review of Workload to be concluded by November 2025. This has the full authority of the Minister and his office.
The addition of this addition of an independent review covering all aspects of workload would be the best vehicle to address areas of concern. The review body will consist of a three-person independent panel including a nominated member from NITC and a member nominated by Management Side. This panel will not only review all aspects of workload but will also monitor the implementation of the Heads of Agreement commitments previously outlined in the Management Side Offer.
Both the Minister and his Permanent Secretary have advised the NITC that should the offer not be accepted by Friday 4 April 2025, the offer would no longer stand.
To explain the revised offer and facilitate any questions from members on this amended offer, the INTO has scheduled an online ‘Town Hall’ meeting at 7pm tonight. Registration Link Here