Teacher’s pay rise ‘simply impossible’, says Paul Givan

Reacting to the education minister’s comments, Justin McCamphill, NASUWT national official, said: “Teachers in Northern Ireland are not prepared to be the lowest-paid teachers in these islands.

“The minister needs to secure enough money so that an acceptable pay offer can be made to teachers in order to avert industrial action.

“The NASUWT will not be withdrawing our ballot until such time as an acceptable offer is made and accepted by our members.”

Givan, though, also told MLAs that “hundreds of millions” of pounds were also needed to build and maintain school buildings.

The Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) recently said schools were “deteriorating” and many needed “significant repair”.

“I can only do so much with the budget that is made available to me,” the minister said.

“There has not been the funding over many years to go into the school estate.

“There is a backlog of hundreds of millions of pounds.

“There is a programme of works between new builds, school enhancements, and what we need for special education over the next ten years that comes over, in the region of, about £3bn.

“If we’re serious about our school estate, we need to be serious when it comes to the allocation of funding to the Department of Education.”