The skills minister has said that college principals should ask themselves what their high salary says about “how much they value” their workforces who have not enjoyed a pay rise.
As part of an accountability hearing, Anne Milton was questioned by Labour MP Emma Hardy, who is on the Commons Education Select Committee, on the issue of pay at the top of FE. Ms Milton also told the committee that said she would advise her children to “leave it a year” before starting a new qualification like T levels.
Ms Hardy said 17 college principals earned over £200,000 in 2016-17, and over a third have enjoyed pay rises of more than 10 per cent.
She added: “Now I’m all for people getting paid well for doing a difficult job, but do you think that’s something that you should look at in FE - the discrepancy between what CEOs are getting paid and what people on the chalk-face are getting paid?”
Pay discrepancy ‘feels quite uncomfortable’
Ms Milton said she could not ignore the difference between what those at the top of FE and those at the bottom were being paid, adding: “The discrepancy between the two I think feels quite uncomfortable. It does to me.”
She continued: “One wants to give people rewards for what is a very complex job, but it has got to be proportionate when money is tight.
“It has got to be moderate and it has got to send a message to the workforce. And if your salary is way in excess of the workforce’s pay, and they haven’t had a pay rise for a long time, you’ve got to ask yourself as a principal what that says about how much you value the workforce.”
‘Not for me personally to decide’
On pay for teaching staff, and in light of possible industrial action in the autumn, Ms Hardy asked if the government would look at funding pay rises for FE staff. In March, Theresa May said that pay rises for NHS staff would be paid for by the Treasury, meaning hospitals would not have to find the money out of their own budgets.
Ms Milton said she “cannot comment” on pay for FE teaching staff, adding: “The Association of Colleges [AoC] are the people dealing with this and it’s not for me personally to decide.”
Last month, FE unions submitted a pay claim of 5 per cent for the 2018-19 academic year to the AoC and called for a guaranteed minimum increase of £1,500 for the lowest-paid staff. The AoC said colleges were prepared to offer a “substantial” pay rise for staff - but only if the government agreed to foot the bill.
Ms Hardy said: “But you could argue that they are worth [a pay rise].”
The minister responded: “I will always argue the case for FE and that includes its teachers. It’s not just about budgets and the money available, because I think they do an extraordinary, valuable and quite a complex job because they are dealing with a much more complex group of people.”
