Unions demand 10% pay rise amid looming strike threat

Further education unions will demand 10 per cent pay rise alongside national commitments to reduce teaching hours and class sizes to tackle “impossible” workloads in upcoming negotiations.

The National Joint Forum (NJF) of five teaching and support staff trade unions issued its annual claim for pay and conditions this week, arguing that current strategies to close pay gaps with schools “are not working” and that the sector is “at a crossroads”.

Negotiations are held between the joint forum and the Association of Colleges (AoC), which then issues a non-binding recommendation on behalf of England’s FE colleges.

In their letter to Gerry McDonald, New City College chief executive and AoC employment policy group chair, the unions repeated calls for a “functioning bargaining mechanism” and “concrete action” on workload.

These are “essential” to making colleges “vibrant and attractive” places to work, they added.

The joint forum urged the AoC to join trade unions in calling for a “better” bargaining system that would align with the school teacher’s review body (STRB).

In recent years, the AoC has held off on pay recommendations until STRB recommendations are published, in the hope that the government will cough up extra money for colleges to make a “meaningful offer” to staff.

This paid off in 2023, with an extra £470 million extra announced over two academic years and an AoC pay recommendation of 6.5 per cent, in line with schoolteacher pay rises.

But last year the new Labour government snubbed FE with no extra funding, while offering school teachers a 5.5 per cent rise.

The AoC then said it was “forced” to recommend only 2.5 per cent, or at least £750, although it argued this was above inflation.

Julian Gravatt, the AoC’s deputy chief executive, said: “We thank the unions for their pay claim and look forward to meeting with them in June to discuss it.

“Association of Colleges and its members share the same aim as the unions to improve college pay.

“That is why we work so hard to persuade the government to invest more in skills, to increase funding and to ensure that colleges can offer competitive salaries.  

“Our concern is that the already unacceptable pay gaps between college lecturers and schoolteachers and with industry will widen further unless funded.

“We will do everything we can to secure that extra investment.”

The DfE later agreed to extra funding for pay increases for teachers worth £50 million amidst a judicial review threat from the Sixth Form College Association and National Education Union strikes.

The unions say a 10 per cent or £3,000 pay increase this year, whichever is greater, would be a first step to reversing fifteen years of real terms pay reductions, which have created a “yawning pay gap” with schools and resulted in a “recruitment and retention crisis”.

Other demands include minimum starting pay for FE lecturers to equal schoolteachers’, talks on standardised increments and pay scales, maximum weekly and annual teaching hours, and an agreed national policy on guided learning hours.

October’s budget committed £300 million to further education colleges’ revenue budgets; £50 million was designated for college pay this academic year, with the remaining £250 million going towards a 3.78 per cent increase to the 16-19 funding rate.

However college leaders say they have seen unprecedented growth in younger learners this year, with more expected to enrol this September.

Meanwhile, devolved and national adult education budgets have been cut for 2025-26 with hopes of good news in June’s spending review waning as the country’s economic growth outlook looks increasingly bleak. 

Members of UCU are discussing the feasibility of a ballot for national strike action in the coming months. 

The union – which is campaigning for a “new deal for FE” – recently reported that its further education committee decided it would tentatively consult members “to gauge the levels of support for an industrial action ballot”.

Several UCU branches have submitted motions to the annual congress this May calling for a national strike ballot.