Sinn Féin accused of ‘misinformation’ around funding for teachers’ pay

By Rebecca Black, Press Association

Stormont education minister Paul Givan has accused Sinn Féin of “misinformation” around teachers’ pay.

He also complained of delay in terms of the Executive approving his bid to spend extra money to give teachers a pay deal in 2025/26.

Mr Givan said he made a bid for £38 million (€43 million) from the recent December Monitoring Round earlier this month but received around £25 million (€28 million), leaving a shortfall.

The experience when it came to teachers' pay, of how Sinn Fein handled that, it was an act of bad faith on their part, and the way in which they dealt with that, and also how they put misinformation into the public domain following that Executive meeting

On Thursday Mr Givan announced he had been given permission for a ministerial directive to overspend his budget.

He also claimed that the item “hadn’t been allowed on the agenda” at an Executive meeting on Wednesday.

“The Finance Minister (John O’Dowd) had publicly claimed that he had secured £37 million over a month ago, and that informed the expectation within the trade unions and indeed the wider teaching profession, that we were on a pathway to securing this,” he told BBC Radio Ulster on Friday morning.

“I brought my paper to the Executive at the start of this week. It wasn’t allowed on the agenda on Wednesday. I asked for the reasons why that was at the meeting, the rationale for it wasn’t acceptable.

“I resubmitted the exact same paper, the First Minister did approve it.

“I think it was unnecessary to have had that 24-hour period where… they moved from not approving it to then approving it based on the exact same information that had been provided to them earlier in the week.”

He added: “Why would the teaching profession not have moved forward whenever health workers, police officers are all having pay awards.

“That was my frustration in terms of the delay that was unnecessary at the Executive meeting this week, because we shouldn’t have been moving to a position where teachers would be treated differently.

Our focus remains on securing a fair and sustainable pay offer for teachers, who have waited patiently for progress amidst the ongoing pressures within the education system

“I made it clear that was unacceptable, and I’m pleased that we were able to resolve that particular issue within 24 hours.”

He said he hopes talks on teachers pay can begin early in the new year, adding the pay award could be up to 4 per cent.

The Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council (NITC) responded saying it looked “forward to engaging constructively” with management side at the Teachers’ Negotiating Committee in early January.

“Our focus remains on securing a fair and sustainable pay offer for teachers, who have waited patiently for progress amidst the ongoing pressures within the education system,” they added.

Mr Givan’s department has been projected to have a deficit of £267 million for the financial year.

He contended that over the last 10 years his department has never had an opening budget that can cover all the costs for the year, and had to receive “significant increases” through monitoring rounds throughout the year.

“Last year that in year funding accounted for over £400 million, that hasn’t happened this year, there has not been the same funding, and that is why the Department of Education is facing the budgetary pressures that we do have within this financial year,” he said.

He also accused Sinn Féin of having “put misinformation into the public domain”.

“The experience when it came to teachers’ pay, of how Sinn Fein handled that, it was an act of bad faith on their part, and the way in which they dealt with that, and also how they put misinformation into the public domain following that Executive meeting.

“That certainly wasn’t unhelpful, but I will remain focused on trying to deliver for the Department of Education, our schools, our teachers, and taking that collective approach around the Executive table.”