Further education unions have urged general FE college leaders to commit to “time-limited” negotiations on creating binding teacher pay scales in FE. The demand has been laid out by the National Joint Forum (NJF) of five teaching and support staff trade unions, which is also pushing a 10 per cent teacher pay rise for the third year running. The unions have pressed the Association of Colleges (AoC) to begin discussing the introduction of national pay bargaining in FE later this Autumn with a set deadline to come to an agreement. The 2026-27 pay claim comes ahead of negotiations with the AoC later this June, which issues non-binding pay recommendations on behalf of English FE colleges. In a letter to Gerry McDonald, New City College chief executive and AoC employment policy group chair, the unions reiterated previous calls for a national binding pay framework in FE but this year said representatives must come to the table with an agreed end date. The NJF also told the AoC agree to “time-limited talks” this autumn to come to an interim agreement that all colleges can meet the minimum pay recommendations ahead of any government funding commitments. The letter acknowledged the path to a fully funded binding pay framework, as is the case with sixth form colleges, will “take time” to implement in FE but stressed “time-limited talks” must start no later than January 2027. “The lack of a binding system is one of the biggest threats to industrial harmony,” the claim stated. College leaders are currently free to offer pay rises to staff that stray away from the AoC’s pay recommendation. Last year, the AoC recommended colleges offer a 4 per cent pay rise but admitted that many would struggle to afford it. The move triggered threats of industrial action across dozens of colleges. Unionised FE teachers at 16 colleges ended up walking out in January over lack of pay parity with schoolteachers, national workload agreements and a binding national bargaining framework. Average FE teacher pay now sits around £10,500 below schoolteachers, the widest gap in at least 15 years. This year’s pay claim also demanded an FE teachers’ starting salary be “immediately” mirrored with schoolteachers, currently at £31,650. Other asks from the NJF included a standard 25-hour working week for all full time staff, new proposed caps on teaching hours, new digital boundaries for staff wellbeing. They also said all colleges should become Foundation Living Wage employers, with specific rates set at no less than £13.45 per hour outside London and £14.80 per hour in London. AoC chief executive David Hughes urged the government to sit down with its representatives and trade unions to agree a plan on how to close the pay gaps. “It’s no surprise that the unions are asking for a big increase in pay in this year’s pay claim, because we agree that pay for staff in colleges is below what it should be,” Hughes told FE Week. “Without extra funding from the government for next academic year, colleges are in a really difficult position and will struggle to make a meaningful pay award. That scenario will result in college pay gaps with schools and the wider labour market widening even further.” He added: “We will engage with our members in the coming weeks to reach a position everyone supports, and this will inform our discussions at the National Joint Forum in June.”