![\"Education](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_Saintfield-GCSE-Results-13_JK.jpg\")
Education Minister Paul Givan(Image: Justin Kernoghan\/Belfast Live)<\/p>\nThe Northern Ireland Teachers\u2019 Council (NITC), representing the five main teacher unions, said it looked forward to engaging with the TNC over pay in January.Education Minister Paul Givan(Image: Justin Kernoghan\/Belfast Live)<\/p>\n
Discussions over a pay award for teachers in Northern Ireland can now progress following approval for Education Minister<\/a> Paul Givan to overspend his budget.<\/p>\n The minister said he had used the urgent decision procedure to get approval for his ministerial direction to reflect the \u201cimportance of avoiding further delay in progressing teachers\u2019 pay arrangements\u201d.<\/p>\n Mr Givan had previously been critical that his direction was not accepted at an Executive <\/a>meeting earlier this week.<\/p>\n Ministerial directions are formal instructions from ministers directing their permanent secretary to proceed, despite objections, with a spending plan.<\/p>\n The minister said: \u201cIt was essential that the ministerial direction on the 2025\u201326 teachers\u2019 pay award proceeded without delay, given the serious consequences that any postponement would have had.<\/p>\n \u201cFollowing yesterday\u2019s Executive meeting, I wrote to the First Minister<\/a> and the deputy First Minister setting out both the decision required and the implications of deferring it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe First Minister and deputy First Minister have now considered the matter, and I am pleased that approval has been given for the ministerial direction.<\/p>\n \u201cThis enables discussions to progress and provides an important step towards ensuring teachers are treated fairly.\u201d<\/p>\n The minister said the financial pressures on his department remain acute.<\/p>\n Mr Givan added: \u201cI continue to work with officials and the Education Authority<\/a> to reduce the projected deficit of circa \u00a3267m for this financial year, but critical pressures persist.<\/p>\n \u201cMy decision to bring forward a direction underlines my continued commitment to Northern Ireland\u2019s teaching professionals and the pupils and school communities they serve.\u201d<\/p>\n The minister said the Teachers\u2019 Negotiating Committee (TNC) would meet early in the new year to take the pay offer forward.<\/p>\n The Northern Ireland Teachers\u2019 Council (NITC), representing the five main teacher unions, said it looked forward to engaging with the TNC over pay in January.<\/p>\n A statement said: \u201cOur 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign up here for our Party Lines newsletter<\/a> and get the latest political analysis and headlines from Belfast Live’s Political Reporter James McCarthy direct to your inbox twice a week.<\/p>\n For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage<\/strong> here<\/a> and sign up to our politics newsletter<\/a> here.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Northern Ireland Teachers\u2019 Council (NITC), representing the five main teacher unions, said it looked forward to engaging…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[60801,2266,110004,1144,285,857,11191,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-641168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-department-of-education","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-education-authority","11":"tag-northern-ireland","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-schools","14":"tag-stormont","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115743221097587877","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_JS343541892-1.jpg\")
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