A NORTH-EAST teacher is understood to be seeking compensation after claiming she suffered injuries while filling out an application for a pay rise.

The woman, who works at an unnamed secondary school in the region, is said to have been left with back and neck problems after it took her days to fill out the Government forms for the performance-related rise.

Officials at her union, the NASUWT, are said to be taking the woman's complaints seriously and are conducting an investigation into whether to back the industrial injury claim.

Last night they refused to name the teacher.

She is believed to have had arthritis for a long time and claims this was made worse by the long periods of time spent filling out the application.

The seven-page form is being filled out by some 200,000 teachers across the country looking for the £2,000 net increase on offer from the Government.

David Henderson, a headteacher at Hummersknott School, in Darlington, said teachers had worked extremely hard to fill in the form because there was a great deal riding on it. He said that as well as the net value of the initial application, there were further awards available in future years that could dramatically increase wages.

There was also the prestige linked with being successful in the application, he said.

"The teachers who were able to apply were extremely thorough in most cases and they must have spent a long time on them," he said, estimating up to 11 hours work for some.

However, he didn't feel such a compensation claim was likely to be successful.