Teachers’ claim not rejected, says Government

The Government adds: The outcome of the meeting last week was that it was agreed between both sides that the comparators used by the Union and the work done by the Government in preparing an offer were to be looked at by PWC. This is proceeding, with a meeting with PWC having already taken place, but the Union seems to have unilaterally withdrawn from the process and is instead considering action. This is not usual while negotiations are ongoing and is only likely to serve to further delay matters, whilst continued engagement will make the negotiations easier.

The Minister for Education, John Cortes, said: "We are working on the various aspects of claims by teachers, including on TLRs and we are making good progress. We highly value the work our teachers do and we want to ensure that we assess their claims with the respect they deserve. We have already done a lot of work on the claims and are doing even more now involving one of the top accountancy firms in making the objective assessments required in order to be able to settle matters. This is the right way to handle this claim and I am pleased to be working with the Chief Minister on this."

The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said: "We are investing more in education than probably any government in Europe per capita. We recognise the essential contribution our teachers make to our society and have invested heavily in the infrastructure of their places of work, with more investment to come.

" We have engaged with their claim and have resolved many of their claims, are resolving some now and are engaged in addressing other claims. The easiest thing would have been to reject the pay claims, but we have not done so. Instead, we are working to try to ensure that whatever proposals are made are objectively justifiable. That is the way for us to be able to properly address these claims.

"If we have been unable to do more sooner because of the all-consuming Brexit negotiations, I can only apologise, but it is my judgement that it the interests of the whole community must come first and above any claims by any particular sector, however valued and important it may be.

"The teaching profession is a large one and its claims can have important financial effects. That is why this claim both merits, deserves and requires serious, careful and objective assessment. We are doing that and hope we will be able to resolve issues to mutual satisfaction in short order."

26-04-19 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR