Over 5,000 education workers left without wages due to '˜error'

Workers across the various range of services within the education system in the Western area were left without payment which is normally made in the middle of each month.

One employee who contacted the ‘Journal’ voiced his strong dissatisfaction with the situation.

Peter Nixon, who is a Youth Worker at St Mary’s Youth Club in Creggan said: “We were supposed to get paid over the weekend but no money appeared.

“It’s a disgrace. People have direct debits coming out of their accounts every month, so the money needs to be in place.

“I have been paid short on previous occasions and from experience I know that unless you keep on top of the situation you will not get paid.

“I am fortunate that my partner’s money will see us through, but not everyone is that lucky.”

A spokesperson for the Education Authority which is based at Omagh told the ‘Journal’ that around 5,200 employees had been affected by the incident.

In a statement released yesterday, the spokesperon said: “Due to a processing error, a payment which was due to be made by the Omagh Payroll Office to a number of education authority staff on Monday, May 16, 2016 has been delayed.

“The issue has since been resolved and we have been advised by the Banker’s Automated Clearing System (BACS) provider that payment will be issued to banks at midnight on Monday (yesterday).

“The subsequent timimg of the credit payment to individual staff bank accounts will be dependent on the bankingoperational procedures.

“We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

The education authority also moved to assure employees that they will not be out of pocket for any late payments of direct debits from their accounts.

“We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. The authority will ensure that no member of staff is financially disadvantaged due to payments relating to late payments.

“If staff have any concerns, they should contact the WELB Payroll Office,” the spokesperson conti nued.