Pay in further education

Members have seen their pay levels drift to a staggering £9k below that of schoolteachers and their counterparts in Sixth Form Colleges.

FE pay offer

Following negotiations with the Association of Colleges (AoC) on 1st October through the National Joint Forum (NJF) collective bargaining forum, an offer of 3.5% across-the-board pay increase for all teachers and support staff has been made by the AoC, alongside an encouragement for colleges to go beyond the 3.5% if they can afford to.

In the context of this year’s increased funding settlement for further education, and the significant pay disparity between FE staff and schoolteachers, the AoC’s offer falls well short of our joint pay claim.

Your rep should be calling a workplace meeting - attend and make your voice heard. If your workplace does not have a rep, you can still get together with colleagues to discuss, or become a rep yourself. Reps are also being surveyed about any college offer, what it might be, and memebrs' response.

UCU national conference voted to move to an aggregated ballot, but they are yet to announce a ballot timetable. We are in contact with national UCU officials and will keep you updated on any developments.

FE pay claim 2026/27

NEU has reached agreement with the other further education trade unions (GMB, UCU, Unite and Unison) on this year's joint Further Education (FE) trade unions' pay claim (2026/27) and it has been submitted to the Association of Colleges (AoC).

The joint union pay claim seeks a pay increase of 10% or £3,000, whichever is the greater, and the following key demands:

FE pay parity with schoolteacher pay
Action on workload
Binding national bargaining

Read the claim

FE pay recommendation 2025/26

The joint further education trade unions (GMB, NEU, UCU, Unite and Unison) and the Association of Colleges (AoC) met via the National Joint Forum (NJF) process on 17 September to negotiate a pay recommendation for 2025/26, following the failure of the AoC to make a pay recommendation on 16 June.

The AoC recommended that colleges should make a pay award of 4% for 2025/26 for all staff, 'where their financial circumstances and funding allocations allow them to do so'.

Numerous colleges do not follow the AoC recommendation, which is non-binding and in practice, NEU members should contact their local rep for further information on the local pay bargaining cycle.

The AoC made no firm commitments in respect of the remainder of the joint claim, underpinning the need for binding national bargaining funded by the government.

Responding in a joint statement, the unions commented that 'it's another disappointing outcome to a very unsatisfactory process.'

Read the pay claim

The joint union pay claim seeks a pay increase of 10% or £3,000, whichever is the greater, and the following:

action to close the pay gap between further education and schools within three years;
a minimum starting salary for lecturers is identical to that of schoolteachers' pay;
all colleges to become Living Wage Foundation employers;
talks on the introduction of standardised pay scales;
joint work with a commitment to close gender, ethnic and disability pay gaps;
meaningful action on workload, including a set of agreed workload and wellbeing protocols;
binding outcomes for national bargaining through a national pay agreement.