To ask the Minister of Education (i) why the figures contained in the Non-Teaching Staff Pay and Grading review were inaccurate; and (ii) what action he will be taking to ensure that the Business Case is returned to the Department of Finance as soon as possible.

The Education Authority (EA) have provided the following information:

The Pay & Grading Review was negotiated in 2022 following which a business case was submitted in February 2023. That business case contained estimates based on staffing figures from November 2021. These figures were taken at a point in time from the payroll system and therefore did not fully capture the recent significant growth in demand for SEN assistants that has resulted in increased staffing numbers.

EA officials subsequently raised this issue with the Department in February 2024 and are currently updating the figures to reflect the actual pay outturn for 2022/23 and the associated full-time equivalent staffing. This work is being carried out as a priority to ensure that the staffing numbers will reflect the increases due to SEN and that the business case can be re-submitted to the Department as soon as possible.