Another union has launched a ballot for strike action in sixth form colleges – claiming that principals have “no excuse and no justification” for not matching the school teacher pay award.
Around 1,800 members of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union will vote from today until February 10 on whether to hit the picket line.
It follows seven days of strikes so far from more than 2,000 sixth form college members of the National Education Union in a row over pay.
NASUWT’s ballot comes just days after the government announced it would release £50 million in April as a “one-off grant” to help fund a wage increase in standalone sixth form colleges and general FE colleges.
The cash is being stumped up following a judicial review threat from the Sixth Form Colleges Association, which was made after the government decided to hand £1.2 billion to schools and academised sixth form colleges to fund a 5.5 per cent pay increase in 2024/25.
Standalone sixth form colleges and general FE colleges were given no such subsidy until last week’s deal.
The £50 million agreement enabled the SFCA to increase its pay recommendation for 2024/25 from 2 per cent for the whole year to 3.5 per cent for September 2024 to March 2025, increasing to 5.5 per cent from April 2025 onwards.
Patrick Roach, NASUWT general secretary, claimed that standalone sixth form college employers have spent the past months “advancing spurious arguments to justify not passing on an acceptable pay award to their teachers”.
He said: “The employers’ organisation, the Sixth Form College Association, cannot justify advancing a divisive proposal of paying teachers in non-academy colleges less than their colleagues teaching in 16 to 19 academies for doing exactly the same job.
“We will not accept such unfairness and inequity and nor will we accept a situation in which any teachers are denied the pay award they are entitled to.”
Roach said industrial action can be avoided in any college that commits to implementing a 5.5 per cent award backdated to September, adding that employers “have no excuse and no justification for putting their interests ahead of recognising and rewarding hard working and dedicated sixth form college teachers”.
SFCA chief executive Bill Watkin hit back.
“We are extremely disappointed that the NASUWT is now balloting for strike action in advance of completing the ongoing formal pay talks, and is blaming sixth form colleges and SFCA for not somehow conjuring even more money for teachers’ pay without getting any more money from the government,” he said.
“NASUWT should be working with us to secure additional funding from government, not further disrupting the education of sixth form students who have already experienced seven days of strike action this academic year.”
Watkin added that the new pay offer for standalone sixth form colleges, which is above the current rate of inflation (2.6 per cent), was made “despite funding for students in sixth form colleges being 26 per cent lower than spending for students in secondary schools”.
Your thoughts