Education Minister Alex Allinson says he is ’disappointed’ that teachers have voted to continue their industrial dispute.

Members of the NASUWT union have voted to continue with the dispute and supported action up to and including potential strikes.

Regulations around industrial action required the NASUWT to re-ballot members in order to maintain the current dispute.

The union has said that 94% of NASUWT members in schools voted in favour of action short of strike action and 85% in favour of strike action while 87% of members at University College Isle of Man voted in favour of both action short of strike action and strike action.

Turnout was 57% in schools and 50% at the University College.

Members of the NASUWT have been engaged in action short of strike action since 24 February. The action was temporarily suspended while a State of Emergency due to the Coronavirus pandemic was in place and resumed on 29 June.

However Dr Allinson said: ’I am extremely disappointed to receive this letter from the NASUWT. It comes at a time when hundreds of our pupils are about to receive their grades.

’Almost all our children’s education has been heavily impacted due to the pandemic and this decision will only lead to further stress and anxiety when they begin their new school year.’

The pay increase, which came about after UK Secretary of State Gavin Williamson accepted all recommendations from the independent School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB).

Isle of Man teachers are paid the same as those in England and their annual pay award, once published in a separate document called the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD), has been implemented by the Isle of Man Government in the same way since 1992.

The accepted recommendations will mean the starting salary for new teachers will increase by 5.5% and the maximum of the main pay range and the upper and lower boundaries of all other pay and allowances increased by 2.75%.

The recommendations are equivalent to a 3.1% increase in the overall pay bill, 2% of which is already included in budgets.

However, unions have pointed out that this means the department will be cutting budgets in other areas in education in order to find the other 1.1%.

Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary, said it was ’completely unacceptable’ that the Manx government is not meeting the cost in full - and experienced teachers were not getting the pay award to which they are ’entitled’.