A pay deal has been struck in a long-running clash between sixth form teachers and bosses of their large London college group.
The agreement ends a dispute between Capital City College (CCC) and teachers at its sixth-form campus in Angel – formerly known as City and Islington College – over whether their pay should match national rates recommended by the Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA) or put in line with their general FE college colleagues.
This week, CCC management agreed that pay for teaching staff at the campus will increase in line with other sixth form college teachers, but for the rest of the academic year only, in exchange for strike action ending.
National Education Union (NEU) members have accepted that from September 2026 pay will be negotiated locally, without the expectation that SFCA pay scales will apply automatically.
Terry Sullivan, joint branch secretary of Islington’s NEU branch, said: “We can’t pretend that this aspect of the deal isn’t a setback.
“However, in voting to accept the deal our members remain resolute that we will continue to fight for pay justice in future negotiations.”
It ends a dispute that is understood to have resulted in 19 of strike days since October.
Terms of the deal, agreed via ACAS negotiations on Tuesday, mean that a 4 per cent pay increase has been backdated to September, followed by SFCA rates for the rest of the academic year, equivalent to a 7 per cent rise.
CCC is one of the largest college groups in the country, with 12 main centres across central and north London that merged from three individual college groups, including City and Islington College, in 2016 and 2017.
NEU members balloted for strike action last year after the CCC management dropped a commitment to the SFCA bargaining framework for its Angel campus, which it had followed since the sixth form joined the wider group in 2016.
The college group instead awarded a 2.5 per cent pay rise for all teaching staff, ignoring the nationally bargained 3.5 and 5.5 per cent award for sixth-form teachers.
It also emerged that management was discussing plans to “harmonise” salaries across the group, by freezing sixth-form teacher pay until the “discrepancy” between their higher pay and other teaching staff disappeared.
At the time, union called the prospect of real terms pay cuts “levelling down” while management argued that the wider teaching staff body should not be “disadvantaged” compared to their sixth form colleagues.
A CCC spokesperson said: “We have reached an agreement with NEU resolving the current dispute involving employees on sixth-form contracts.
“We have agreed that, in addition to the 4 per cent pay award offered for all staff for the current academic year, we will also match the Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA) recommended pay scale from January 2026 for this academic year only.
“The NEU has agreed that: From the academic year 2026/27, pay will be agreed locally.
“This means that national pay recommendations for further education and sixth forms will be considered, but they will not automatically apply to the college, the same as for all teaching staff at Capital City College Group.
“There will be no further strike action, with immediate effect.”
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