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14 April 2026

Tag: UCU

Bitter pay dispute between unions and AoC escalates

An argument over pay between unions and the Association of Colleges has worsened, after the latter refused to enter negotiations while industrial action is ongoing. The various FE teaching unions insist that the body which represents the sector has told them it is “not minded to consider” a pay claim for 2018/19 while University and […]

Staff at colleges striking for up to 7 days in exam season

Staff at a host of colleges across the country will walk out on strike for up to seven days over exam season, in the latest action in an ongoing dispute over pay. Ten colleges, nine of which are in London, will be affected in the latest round of action in May and early June, organised […]

Strike action escalates on a second day of college walkouts

More than 1,500 staff from colleges are expected to take part in a second day of strike action, and more walkouts are planned up to the end of April. The dispute is over what a spokesperson for the University and Colleges Union described as “a disappointing” pay offer of one per cent, made last September […]

AoC boss expresses regret over 1 per cent pay offer

The Association of Colleges has expressed regret for offering staff a one-per-cent payrise – and has come in for heavy criticism from the unions for its trouble. “We wish we were in a position to make a better recommendation today, but current funding levels for colleges do not allow us to do so,” claimed AoC […]

£35k-a-year private school seeks £3.50-an-hour apprentice

A private school with annual fees of £35,000 has been branded “a disgrace” by one of the UK’s largest trade unions for offering a rate of just £3.50 an hour for an apprentice to tend its grounds. Cheltenham College, an independent coeducational boarding school in Gloucestershire, advertised for an ‘apprentice groundsperson’ on the gov.uk ‘Find […]

Hull College Group silent on future of under fire chief executive

Hull College Group has repeatedly refused to publicly back its chief executive, after he was urged to resign following a damning FE Commissioner report that exposed a £10 million deficit over four years. Commissioner Richard Atkins’ team was sent in to carry out an emergency assessment, after the Skills Funding Agency issued it with a […]

Strike cancelled after college gives compulsory redundancy assurance

Planned strike action at Hull College has been called off, after bosses gave assurances that there would not be compulsory redundancies. The strike had been due to take place yesterday (October 20) after being postponed from last week (October 13). But the University and College Union decided not to go ahead following “positive talks”, and […]