Education Minister comments following December Monitoring Round allocation

Date published: 10 December 2025

Paul Givan said: 

“The additional resource allocation for my Department falls far short of what is required to manage the deficit in funding allocated to Education in this financial year. The additional £25.6m for teachers’ pay costs falls significantly short of the £37m requested and it leaves my Department with a current funding shortfall, based on current projections, of c£267m for 2025-26. My Department and the EA will, of course, continue to drive this down for the remainder of this financial year.

“The current shortfall means that my Department cannot meet its current teachers’ pay obligations without a Ministerial Direction, which I am now taking to the Executive. Further engagement with the Teaching Unions will take place when this process is complete and the outcome is known.

“My decision to take forward this Ministerial Direction underscores my commitment to Northern Ireland’s teaching professionals and the children, young people and school communities they serve.”

The Minister continued: 

“In terms of Capital funding, I welcome the £22m capital allocation. It will allow progress to be made on urgent capital works across the schools’ estate as well as upgrading essential IT infrastructure and equipment.

“Unfortunately, my Department continues to face significant financial pressures on its capital budget in the coming years. This has been brought into clear focus by the recent emergency closure of Nazareth House Primary School in Londonderry, which reinforces the case for a significantly increased and sustained capital budget to meet the needs of our ageing schools’ estate.

“It is essential that sufficient funding is made available to address and indeed mitigate against the significant challenges facing our schools’ infrastructure and deliver the educational support our children need, not least the investment required right across our schools’ estate in support of those pupils with special educational needs.

“In addition to this and given the scale of the financial challenge which the Executive faces, I have already proposed to the Minister of Finance that time is set aside at a future Executive meeting to discuss how we address these mounting financial pressures.”