To ask the Minister of Education to detail (i) the steps she has taken to ensure parity of pay between education welfare officers working for the Education Authority and equally qualified social workers employed by health and social care trusts; and (ii) the discussions she has had with the NIPSA union regarding potential strike action because of the existing pay disparity.

The Department of Education (DE) is not the employer of Education Welfare Officers (EWOs) and it does not have a direct role in the setting of their pay, or any involvement in discussions with NIPSA on potential strike action,

It is very difficult to make direct comparisons of pay across different organisations as the requirements of the particular role and the conditions of service are likely to differ.

For this reason, there are well-established processes and procedures in place within individual organisations to evaluate the appropriate grading of posts and the corresponding level of pay. The Education Authority (EA) use the GLPLC Job Evaluation scheme for this purpose.

The EA, as the employer of EWOs, has advised that there has been substantial engagement with the Trade Union NIPSA over the current pay dispute.

NIPSA and EA Management have been meeting on a fortnightly basis since May 2021 to provide updates on the work to resolve the dispute and keep communication lines open between the two parties.

In addition, trade union side has accepted an invitation to join the Board of the Education Welfare Service Transformation Project, which is tasked with reviewing and transforming the Service to meet the needs of young people. Board meetings have been held on 1 June and 6 July 2021, and a further meeting is scheduled to take place on 2 August.

A Remuneration Subgroup has also been formed between EA management and the Trade Union to focus on resolution of the pay dispute, recognising the interdependencies with the Education Welfare Service Transformation Project.