Teacher pay rise granted
Teachers will receive a 7.5% pay rise over two years.
Teachers across the region are set for an early Christmas present after an agreement was finally reached on pay negotiations with Dumfries and Galloway Council.
Union bosses had been in discussions with council officers for several months, and an initial pay increase offer was rejected several months ago.
However, talks were ongoing and it was confirmed at the council’s enabling and customer services committee on Tuesday that a salary deal has been agreed – with back pay included.
Gillian Ross, the council’s corporate finance and accounting manager, said: “Regarding the teachers’ pay award negotiations, it’s just to confirm that those have now been concluded in line with the details that are within the report.
“It’s anticipated that all backdated pay will be paid to teachers in the December pay run.”
Councillors were discussing the council’s overall financial performance for the current financial year as at the end of September 2025 (quarter two).
A report was tabled, which had highlighted uncertainty over teachers’ pay award negotiations – until finance officer Gillian Ross provided the latest update.
The report explained that the teacher’s union EIS had previously rejected the two-year offer presented in line with that accepted by the Scottish Joint Council (SJC), a key body for negotiating pay and conditions for local government employees in Scotland.
The report added: “A revised offer was made at the beginning of November, reflecting a 4 percent increase from 1 August 2025, a further 0.25 percent (to increase this to 4.25 percent) from 1 April 2026 and a 3.25 percent increase from 1 August 2026.
“While the profile of this offer would provide teachers with an earlier increase, the overall increase over the two year period would be 7.5%, which is aligned to that provided to the SJC.”