It’s been a tough time for colleges. Funding was already scarce, and the pandemic has made already difficult financial decisions nigh-on impossible to make. Many colleges are hanging on for dear life. 

And so, I’ll be honest: it was disappointing to find that my college - Weymouth College - was one of the 11 colleges whose University and College Union (UCU) branches have voted for strike action over pay rises.

This action is for ”Notice of ballot - failure to confirm a significant pay increase for 2020-21 - s 226A TULR(C)A 1992”. The union included a breakdown of 92 staff. We employ somewhere around 430 staff.

Now, I don’t blame the staff for this. After all, staff at Weymouth College have had one single 1 per cent pay rise since 2011. They are at the end of their tether and many are struggling to live. However, striking at the college is unlikely to achieve their desired aims, and I for one seriously question the role of the UCU here.

I have, over the years, attempted to keep everyone updated on our financial issues and progress. But maybe I have not made our financial plight sufficiently clear to our staff. And it is possible that Covid preventing full staff meetings and financial updates for the past 15 months has had a deleterious effect on morale. 

Strike action: Ballots open in 11 FE colleges

ETF: Pay gap between FE and schools is ‘indefensible’

By Jo Grady: Why teachers’ workload would rise without a cap on hours

I truly believe that if everyone had really understood the implications of our financial position, we might not be receiving this communication. “Significant” means 5 per cent plus. I hope that if anyone fully knew our position, they would realise that 5 per cent or more is simply unachievable at this current time.    

We actually do have a 2 per cent pay increase backdated to April, and another 2 per cent next year in the budget. However, if we are indeed able to offer the 2 per cent, it will have absolutely nothing to do with ballots for strike action, but it will have everything to do with proper financial management and the continued desire to reward staff. 

If UCU members are accusing us of a failure to confirm a pay rise - then they are absolutely correct - we cannot confirm it, and we will not confirm it until our governing body are convinced that we can afford it and that it will not put the institution at risk.

Like many others, this college has its share of financial difficulties. In 2013-14 - before I or any of the other senior leadership were in post - Weymouth received £3.8 million advances of funds from the government, which was added to a commercial bank loan taken out in the mid-2000s for our current buildings. This means we have spent the last seven years doing everything we can to pay back both loans, keep us solvent and slowly improve our financial position.

Inherited financial issues

We applied to the Transaction Unit (TU) for restructuring funds. They allowed us to re-profile our loan (over a longer period, so that it now juxtaposes with our mortgage loan to make relatively stable repayments annually). However, at the same time, it added £250,000 interest for the benefit - and the whole lot won’t be fully paid off until 2026. In addition, we lost over £900,000 in commercial income last year - there was a pandemic.

This year we have, thus far, paid back just above £900,000, with similar annual amounts due for the next 6 years.  

So far, and since the financial issues inherited from the previous principal (and the previous mortgage loan), we have been through intense SFA and EFA (now ESFA) scrutiny (now support), a Structure and Prospects Appraisal, an area review, an FE commissioner’s team visit, an FE commissioner’s team monitoring review and a second FE commissioner’s team visit currently in place.

The overall view of everyone is that, “Well, if you didn’t have the loans, you would be flying.” We agree.

Fought to keep a broad curriculum

After all, although we may sound like a sad case financially, we were rightly judged “good” by Ofsted in 2015, and then again in 2020. We also have a very honest, open and transparent culture, and as a rural and coastal college, we have fought to keep a broad curriculum that provides our community with as many opportunities as possible while delivering a viable curriculum. We have fought to remain independent and we have a new strategic plan which will drive our growth, resilience and sustainability.

However, we have another five or six years of repayment hanging over us in addition to the previous six years of repayment - remember, we didn’t create these loans. This year’s government loan repayment alone (not forgetting the interest) equates to a 4.7 per cent pay award, we would have loved to have been able to award that to the staff.   

So, what’s my point?

Well, it’s this: what on earth are UCU doing by trying to coerce colleges into giving pay rises that they can’t afford? Giving 5 per cent would put this college at risk of insolvency and could undermine its very existence. It is my very strong view that at a national level, UCU should be concentrating their efforts on declaring war on the government over FE funding rates rather than attacking financially challenged FE colleges, inciting them to give pay rises that they cannot possibly deliver and therefore endangering our sector.

If the FE sector was properly funded, this wouldn’t be an issue. We should be on the same side fighting for that proper funding.

Nigel Evans is chief executive of Weymouth College. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are his own, and not necessarily those held by Weymouth College.