School support staff accept pay deal

School support workers, including bus drivers, classroom assistants and canteen staff, have accepted a pay deal following consultation with unions.

Education Minister Paul Givan confirmed the agreement and has welcomed the news.

Support workers had gone on strike in recent months due to a long-running dispute over pay and job grading.

The support staff unions, GMB, Nipsa, Unison and Unite accepted the deal from the Education Authority (EA) following consultations with members over the summer.

Paul Givan said the agreement would help with recruiting and retaining support staff in the future

In June, Nipsa and Unison encouraged their members to accept a new pay deal.

The deal, which affects about 20,000 staff, includes the regrading of staff, backdated to 1 April, and a one-off lump sum payment of £2,500 to every member of staff, coming in the next financial year.

It should also lead to pay rises for the staff, who are among the lowest paid in the education system with some currently earning less than £12 an hour.

Givan said the agreement would "provide relief to our school support staff who will appreciate the benefits of this significant investment in pay".

"They deserve to be paid appropriately for the extremely important work they do," he said.

Givan said the restructured pay scales would improve recruitment and retention of staff in the future.

Sinn Féin's education spokesperson Pat Sheehan said it was "great news that unions and the Education Authority have reached an agreement to pay educational support staff a fair wage".

Sheehan said the finance minister, Caoimhe Archibald, and the education minister "worked constructively to find a resolution".