Further education members of the University and College Union (UCU) have voted for a national ballot on strike action against low pay at its annual agenda-setting conference.
UCU members came together this weekend for the annual congress in Liverpool and voted to bring college branches across England together to launch a ballot for strike action this Autumn.
This means that the union will start to coordinate with each branch to consult on a disaggregated nationwide ballot following the upcoming spending review.
Paul Bridge, UCU’s head of further education, said: “Coordination is going to be essential if we are going to win a new deal for FE, it can’t just be driven from the head office”.
If teachers vote to strike, it could mean one of the first national strikes in the FE sector in well over a decade.
Congress took place just days after the government announced £190 million for 16-19 education this September.
But UCU members were not convinced of the material benefits of the funding on teaching staff in colleges, saying that it could well result in just a 2 per cent pay award, below the government’s deal for a 4 per cent pay rise for school teachers.
Motions by UCU branches from Bolton College, City of Bristol College, Merton College, South and City College Birmingham and Bradford College as well as the UCU FE committee all called for ballots on co-ordinated national industrial action.
Union members who argued against the motion said launching a ballot in September was “too soon” and that more time and strategy was needed before escalation.
All the motions passed and this summer will see branches engaging with members to build a campaign before preparing for a national ballot in September. UCU has already laid out a consultative ballot, closing on June 20.
Labour’s employment rights bill, currently in the House of Lords, seeks to remove the 50 per cent turnout threshold introduced by the Conservatives.
General secretary Jo Grady told delegates she was meeting chancellor Rachel Reeves next week to discuss education and vowed that FE funding will be part of her conversation.
She told delegates that “the time is now” to start making plans to escalate and taking the next steps to organise.
“The time is now to start escalating our campaigning, to start preparing, to start briefing branches, to getting all of our members in line, on message, clued up, educating each other. Because however many people we have at the beginning of a dispute, we want just as many at the end, really, we want more at the end,” she said.
“We are putting employers on notice that unless they come to the table with a decent offer, England wide strike action is on the cards,” she added in a statement about the motions passing.
Pay and deficit motions also passed
Other motions calling calling on UCU to up its campaign to close the teacher pay gap with schools, also passed.
It comes as UCU officials prepare to begin negotiations with the Association of Colleges next month. FE unions have demanded a 10 per cent pay rise in their annual pay claim for 2025-26.
UCU members also voted overwhelmingly to pass a motion that demanded FE college leaders stop using deficit budget an “an excuse” not to fund pay awards.
City and Islington College branch argued college management teams were pursuing “emotional blackmail” with the threat of redundancies if they were to enter deficits.
“Even if they are in deficit, so what? The government is in deficit, we are in deficit with our mortgages…” they said.
AI is here to stay, but staff need training
Elsewhere, Bolton College delegates convinced union colleagues to vote in favour for a motion calling for training and resources for teachers on “the alarming rise of inappropriate behaviour” due to students’ use of mobile phones and artificial intelligence.
“We need safeguards, we need training, we need policy,” proponents of the motion talked about recent cases of teachers having their images digitally altered to “get them fired”.
Additionally, a motion heard in a private session yesterday demanded that the union to “routinely” publish information it holds as if it were a public authority operating under Freedom of Information Act rules. However, FE Week understands that motion fell.
Clear vote for national action today.
The next 10 years in further education cannot be like the last 10.
We need funding, pay parity with schools, real action on workload, a proper binding national bargaining system and adult education restored.
The eballot is open to Friday 20th June 5pm.
Find your eballot in your email if you are a UCU member.
Search: IMPORTANT: UCU New Deal for FE consultative ballot.
Vote Yes. Join the union.
Delegates were clear.
The time is now.
The eballot is open now.
Join UCU and Vote Yes.
I share the view that the deficit is weaponised as a tool to emotionally manipulate FE staff. College leaders have failed to expand the sector despite clear signals of rising student demand. A chronic shortage of teaching staff makes sustainable growth unattainable, while stagnant wages, excessive workloads, and unrealistic performance targets (such as 100% achievement rates) demoralise workers and exacerbate recruitment and retention crises.
Moreover, leaders have inadequately advocated to successive governments for the funding FE desperately requires. Instead of addressing systemic issues, their primary “solution” has been to slash wages, reduce support services, and narrow curriculum offerings—a pattern repeated for over a decade. Continuing to cut resources while expecting improved outcomes is not just counterproductive; it reflects a glaring lack of innovation or accountability.
In short, recycling the same austerity-driven strategies year after year, while hoping for different results, is hardly a strategy for success—it’s a cycle of decline that harms both staff and students.
I think pinning this all on FE Leaders is a bit harsh. Most work incredibly hard and would love to make bigger pay awards. The fact is, we haven’t been able to keep pace because the funding has been flat lined for the last 10 years or more.
Nothing like a few sweeping statements and a bit of leader bashing thought eh?
I think it is fair to say the employers have acted as the “cats paw” implementing the cuts, despite warm words.
Hence well over 25k job losses in the sector and catastrophe for adult education provision.
Government, with such a majority, could restore FE.
Our employers can get out of the way or choose to back us up. If we want to ensure growth the longevity of the sector we can’t have more of the same.
Senior management’s decision to accelerate the pay differential within colleges is what staff see when they evaluate who is on the right side.
Yes SMT’s they work hard. To what end though?. Don’t we? But they can pay the bills and are still on top after the carnage. “We tried” rings somewhat hollow.