Teacher strikes

Sixth form college teachers vote to strike over ‘farcical’ pay situation

NEU announces strikes at 32 sixth form colleges on November 28, December 3 and 4

NEU announces strikes at 32 sixth form colleges on November 28, December 3 and 4

11 Nov 2024, 14:26

Teachers in 32 sixth form colleges have voted to take strike action after the government snubbed them in this year’s school teacher pay award. 

The National Education Union has announced strikes on November 28, December 3 and 4 as they continue to seek “urgent clarification” from the government on whether the £300 million announced at the budget for further education should be spent on pay.

Members of the NEU, which represents 2,500 sixth form college teachers and negotiates their pay as part of the national joint council with the Sixth Form College Association (SFCA), ran a strike ballot from September 14 to November 7.

The summer announcement to award a 5.5 per cent pay rise to school teachers in 2024-25 came with £1.2 billion to go towards the cost of teacher and support staff pay rises, which was accessible to schools, as well as sixth form colleges with academy status.

But ministers offered no funding for pay to the 40 sixth form colleges that have not academised, leaving those colleges to award rises from their own funds.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves did announce an additional £300 million for FE in last month’s budget, but the Department for Education is yet to say how this funding will be distributed or how it can be used.

Rising student numbers

The Sixth Form College Association last week said that “most” of the £300 million will be “needed to fund the projected increase in the number of students” instead of staff pay.

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said today that the £300 million “should properly be spent on staff pay and we are seeking urgent clarification from the DfE that they will confirm that colleges may do so”.

His union’s strike ballot was sent to 40 non-academised colleges. Blackpool sixth form college was later withdrawn as it became an academy after the ballot went out. Out of a 62 per cent turnout, 97 per cent voted in favour of strike action.

Risk of a ‘two-tier workforce’

Kebede said the government’s “baffling decision” to award the pay rise to some sixth form colleges and not others undermined the sixth form college sector’s national collective bargaining arrangement and “risks the creation of a two-tier workforce”.

“We have been disappointed by the failure of the government to resolve this frankly unnecessary dispute, particularly when we have taken every step to explain the distinctive nature of sixth form colleges relative to the schools sector, and the importance of maintaining the integrity of existing collective bargaining arrangements,” he said.

“NEU sixth form college teachers have shown that they will fight for a fair pay award for all colleges.”

Graham Baird, director of HR services at the SFCA, said: “We agree with the NEU that the government’s decision to exclude sixth form colleges from the funding to increase staff pay is baffling.

“We also agree that this decision undermines our highly effective system of collective pay bargaining. 

“However, we cannot condone strike action being taken in sixth form colleges and we will continue to urge the government to avoid this action by providing the additional funding required to match the pay award made to staff in schools.”

The 32 sixth form colleges where teachers voted to strike

Aquinas College (Stockport) 

Barton Peveril Sixth Form College (Eastleigh) 

Bolton Sixth Form College 

Brighton Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College 

Cardinal Newman College (Preston) 

Christ The King Sixth Form College (Lewisham) 

Christ The King Sixth Form College Aquinas 

Capital City College – Angel (Islington) 

Greenhead College (Huddersfield)  

Henley College 

Hills Road Sixth Form College (Cambridge) 

Holy Cross College (Bury) 

Itchen College (Southampton) 

Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College (Birmingham) 

Leyton Sixth Form College 

Loreto College (Manchester) 

Luton Sixth Form College 

Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College (Leeds) 

Peter Symonds College (Winchester) 

Richard Collyer, The College of (Horsham) 

Scarborough Sixth Form College 

Shrewsbury Colleges Group 

Sir George Monoux College (Walthamstow)  

St Brendan’s Sixth Form College (Bristol) 

St Charles Catholic Sixth Form College (Kensington) 

St Francis Xavier Sixth Form College (Clapham) 

St John Rigby RC Sixth Form College (Wigan) 

Varndean College (Brighton) 

Wilberforce College (Hull) 

Winstanley College (Wigan) 

WQE and Regent College Group (Leicester) 

Wyke Sixth Form College 

Xaverian College (Manchester)

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