To ask the Minister of Education how many substitute teachers have not had payments processed by the Northern Ireland Substitute Teacher Register and are subsequently overdue payments.

The Department funds the Education Authority to administer the NI Supply Teacher Register (NISTR) which is effectively a booking system enabling schools to source and engage professionally qualified teachers who have undergone a range of pre-employment checks. On the third working day of each month, a file of approved (signed-off) bookings is extracted from the NISTR and sent to the Department for processing of salary to temporary teachers on schools’ behalf.

There have been a number of issues regarding the implementation of a new NISTR system and the timely payment of temporary teachers. The Department and the EA continue to work together intensively, alongside stakeholder groups, to ensure that immediate steps are taken to ensure staff are paid for their valuable service. In the current exceptional circumstances, particularly in light of the cost-of-living crisis, the Department has asked the EA to process interim emergency payments to all teachers impacted as a matter of urgency.

Due to administrative errors in extracting the file and uploading it to the payroll system; 309 temporary and supply teachers received only partial salary on 18 October for bookings that were approved by schools and should have been paid under normal circumstances. The EA has sincerely apologised for this error and is processing interim emergency payments to reach these teachers by 25 October.

The other factor that has caused problems in the timely payment of temporary teachers relates to the fact that the appropriate approval processes at school level were not completed in line with the payroll deadline. This prevented payment being made on the planned date for an estimated 300 teachers. Incorrect data input in respect of hours worked also appears to have featured in the sign-off process. The EA is contacting all relevant schools to seek confirmation of attendance, check period of service and obtain other necessary sign-off information to enable further interim emergency payments to pursued.