FE Pay Claim 2025/26
In April 2025, the joint further education trade unions (GMB, NEU, UCU Unite and Unison) reached agreement on the joint union pay claim (2025/26) and it has been submitted to the Association of Colleges (AoC). The first National Joint Forum (NJF) to negotiate a pay recommendation will take place on 16 June.
The joint union 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 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.
Read details of the pay claim below: