The pay rise for school teachers could mean there is no money for a similar pay rise for college teachers, the Association of Colleges (AoC) warns.
AoC chief executive David Hughes said while he welcomed a pay rise for teachers in schools worth up to 3.5 per cent, he worries this will mean the DfE will struggle to offer a pay rise for college lecturers.
“Teachers and lecturers across all parts of the education sector do brilliant things, work tirelessly and help transform lives daily,” he said. “So, I am pleased that the government has largely accepted the recommendations of the School Teachers’ Review Body and removed the 1 per cent cap on pay in schools.
“I am very worried, however, about what this means for college staff where pay has been lagging for some time. Much more needs to be done to ensure everybody working in education is recognised and rewarded and this must include a renewed focus on colleges.
‘Worrying for colleges’
Mr Hughes added: “The median pay for teachers in colleges is currently £30,000 - £7,000 less than their counterparts in schools. As a result, colleges are struggling to retain and recruit teachers, particularly in science, engineering and maths - areas vital for the successful delivery of the country’s industrial strategy and to ensure economic prosperity.
“We have been working closely with DfE to analyse and assess the funding gap for post-16 education and skills. If we want to deliver a truly world-class academic and technical educational system, we need to properly invest in it. We are confident that the evidence we are gathering with DfE will support a bid into the next spending review for this to become a longer-term reality.
“In the short term, though, the picture is more worrying for colleges. The school teacher pay award is being funded by DfE from its own budgets. We fear this means that, after a decade of austerity, DfE will struggle to offer anything by way of a corresponding college pay grant to support a matched increase for college staff in the next two years.
“That raises the prospect that college lecturer pay will fall even further behind school teacher pay; it also puts at serious risk the drive for more STEM skills and the implementation of T levels.”
Rise ‘inconceivable’ without extra cash
Unions have submitted a pay claim of 5 per cent for the 2018-19 academic year, and a guaranteed minimum increase of £1,500 for the lowest paid staff, to the AoC. The threat of autumn strike action looms over colleges if the demands are not met.
After initial talks between the AoC and the unions earlier this month, Mr Hughes said that colleges were keen to offer a “significant” rise for its staff - but this would be “inconceivable” without extra money from ministers.
The UCU has also written to skills and apprenticeships minister Anne Milton earlier this month setting out the case for extra funding. The union’s general secretary Sally Hunt has highlighted the pay gap between teachers in schools and colleges, which currently stands at £7,000 a year.
Pay in FE is set through national negotiations between the AoC and unions representing FE staff: the UCU, NEU, Unison, GMB and Unite. If an agreement is struck, it is then down to individual colleges to decide whether to implement it.
At the UCU national conference last month, delegates voted to ensure that its branches were poised to conduct strike ballots after the summer, should the AoC fail to make an “acceptable offer”.
