News Story

The largest teachers’ union in Northern Ireland has welcomed a 4% pay rise for the 2025/2026 year.

Some 87% of NASUWT members voted in favour of the consolidated cost-of-living pay award that will be backdated to September 1 2025.

The union’s leaders said their focus will now shift to reducing teachers’ “excessive workload”.

In April last year, the Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council (NITC), which represents the five main unions in the sector, accepted a 5.5% pay offer for 2024/25, ending their ongoing industrial action.

NASUWT general secretary Matt Wrack said the settlement is a “fair outcome” for teachers that “demonstrates what can be achieved through constructive negotiation, even under significant constraint”.

“However, fair pay is only one pillar of securing the teaching profession for the future.” he said.

“The (Education Minister Paul Givan) must now act with urgency to address the other core challenge, which is the scourge of excessive workload. ”

NASUWT national official Northern Ireland Justin McCamphill said the uplift in pay “matches the award in England, outpaces inflation and was secured without any detrimental conditions”.

He said: “With the pay issue now settled we will be turning our full and undivided attention to workload.

“Teachers need and deserve a sustained reduction in their unsustainable workloads. Progress on this agenda is non-negotiable and will be the measure of whether we secure long-term industrial peace.”

National Association Of Head Teachers (NAHT) Northern Ireland also voted in favour of the pay rise and its president Joanne Whyte acknowledged the Education Minister’s “efforts within the executive to make available the funds to provide this much-needed uplift”.

She said: “While this agreement provides some financial relief, it does not resolve the systemic challenges facing our profession.

“Our focus now turns to the host of other significant issues including, of course, the intolerable levels of school leader workload and shortfalls in school funding, both of which continue to undermine the sustainability of school leadership.”