Education spokesperson Sean Rogers (SDLP) has welcomed an announcement by the Minister for Education that teachers ‘incremental’ pay increase is to be progressed.
The South Down MLA said: “I wrote to the Minister for Education on 30 August 2013 to express my concern that some teachers who were due an incremental pay increase from 1 September were going to miss out until approval of the 2013/14 Teacher pay award.
“The lack of agreement between unions and employers on the 2013/14 pay award meant that incremental pay awards may be indefinitely delayed.
“Such a delay was deeply disadvantageous to teachers who were owed this pay increase. I had called on the Minister to decouple the pay negotiations and the standard increments as both of these issues should never have been linked together.
“I am glad the Minister has listened and recognised the unfairness inherent in any delay. I welcome his announcement that he will now fast-track the payment of teachers’ incremental pay awards.
“Our teachers are a credit to our education system and work extremely hard to provide the best possible educational experience for our young people. They deserve to have a fair and reasonable pay award system. I hope this situation is rectified and that the appropriate payments will be made in October.”
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