College leaders have expressed shock at being threatened with industrial action if they fail to make “serious” pay offers by next Friday.
The University and College Union (UCU) has written to 76 college principals demanding their members get a 10 per cent or £3,000 pay rise – whichever is greater – plus action on workloads and a commitment to national pay bargaining.
The letter, seen by FE Week, gives colleges until 10am on October 3 to agree, or face a formal declaration of a trade dispute.
It comes after an Association of Colleges’ (AoC) recommendation that colleges offer staff a 4 per cent pay award in 2025/26 – despite the AoC admitting “many” colleges would struggle to afford it.
Several colleges told FE Week they had matched the AoC’s 4 per cent recommendation, so were surprised to be singled out on the UCU’s strike list.
Liam Sloan, principal of Bolton College, said: “I would like them [staff] to be paid best in the sector, but affordability is a challenge.”
He added the college’s UCU branch had recommended members accept the 4 per cent offer, but the outcome of the ballot would be revealed at the end of the month, cutting it fine with the October 3 deadline.
Following publication of this story, Sloan said he has now received confirmation from UCU that the letter he received was sent in error.
A spokesperson for Chichester College Group also said they were “surprised” to be on the list “after we have in fact honoured staff with the 4 per cent pay rise in question”.
And the sentiment was echoed by several other college leaders who declined to comment on the record while negotiations with unions were ongoing.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said last week: “College leaders now have a clear choice; make a serious offer or the sector will be hit hard with industrial action this autumn.”
UCU south west official Nick Varney added that “most colleges will try to get away with the AoC recommendation”, while the union’s northern official Chris Robinson said some bosses were waiting to complete enrolment to calculate what they could afford.
“Some college bosses’ argument is we’ve got to wait until we see the bums on seats before we can put an offer in,” he added.
A spokesperson for Blackpool and The Flyde College said it was “too early” to decide what they could offer for this year’s pay award.
“We will be discussing this with colleagues and the trade unions first,” they said.
Meanwhile, WCG said it was not surprised to be targeted by the UCU as “we have not been able to confirm that a 10 per cent pay award is affordable”.
A spokesperson added: “We are carefully considering the AoC’s recent pay recommendation and, like many colleges, we face significant financial pressures which make decisions around pay awards extremely challenging.”
Collective bargaining call
Varney told FE Week that negotiations at colleges involved in mergers – such as Petroc and Exeter College – were particularly complex as pay disparity exists between teachers at the different campuses.
“We desperately need to rectify pay scales across colleges,” he said. “The main thing here is we’re campaigning for binding national pay bargaining.”
Exeter College said it would take a pay recommendation that “reflects the difference staff make to the college” to its board of governors in October as normal.
The AoC’s pay recommendation is not binding, meaning colleges can set the pay in their own organisations.
Parliament’s education select committee this week recommended the government set up a statutory pay review body for colleges after finding “fragmented” and “inadequate” FE teacher pay decisions.
AoC chief executive David Hughes said the idea would have “many supporters” but posed risks due to current funding levels.
The UCU has demanded the 76 colleges on notice make a public statement of support for a new binding negotiating agreement for FE or face a formal dispute.
Adult budget erosion
Colleges with large adult provision will struggle to meet the AoC recommendation this year after being left out of the government’s boost to 16-19 funding rates and suffering cuts to the adult skills fund.
Teachers at Derwentside College accepted a 2 per cent pay award this year, according to UCU’s Robinson. “We haven’t pushed them because we know that the money is not there to push them on,” he said.
“That was a measure brought in because a pay award couldn’t be made in line with AoC recommendations and other local colleges,” Robinson added.
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