National Education Union members who teach in sixth form colleges will commence a formal strike ballot over pay, running from 14 September to 7 November.
Whilst academised sixth form colleges have been guaranteed funding to implement the same 5.5% pay award as offered to school teachers, this has not been the case for non-academised sixth form colleges. Members in 40 sixth form colleges will be balloted.
Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“The decision by the government to award funding to some sixth form colleges and not to others undermines an effective system of collective bargaining. This flies in the face of the Labour’s manifesto commitment to good faith negotiation and bargaining.
“It would be an abrogation of responsibility by the new Labour government to allow the pay gap between schools and colleges to widen further, when the opportunity is there to support a crucial sector for economic growth through ending pay inequality between schools and colleges.
“NEU teachers in the affected sixth form colleges are ready to fight for a fair pay award for all. The NEU believe that the government should revisit the decision not to fund non-academised sixth form colleges, to avoid a damaging and unnecessary dispute.”
Editor’s Note
The NEU represents the majority of sixth form college teachers in the sector.
Pay for sixth form college teachers is set through collective bargaining at the national joint council (NJC) with the Sixth Form College Association (SFCA). This arrangement has enabled a longstanding productive industrial relations framework.
Pay for teachers in sixth form colleges is broadly comparable to pay for teachers in schools while being lower overall. In contrast, pay in FE colleges has fallen dramatically behind schools, with the gap between teacher pay in FE colleges and schools reaching £9,300 in 2023/24.
List of sixth form colleges to be balloted:
Aquinas College (Stockport)
Barton Peveril Sixth Form College (Eastleigh)
Bexhill College (Bexhill-on-Sea)
Blackpool Sixth Form College
Bolton Sixth Form College
Brighton Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College
Cardinal Newman College (Preston)
Carmel College (St Helens)
Christ The King Sixth Form College (Lewisham and Sidcup)
Capital City College – Angel (Islington)
Franklin College (Grimsby)
Greenhead College (Huddersfield)
Henley College
Hills Road Sixth Form College (Cambridge)
Holy Cross College (Bury)
Huddersfield New College
Itchen College (Southampton)
John Leggott Sixth Form College (Scunthorpe)
Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College (Birmingham)
Leyton Sixth Form College
Loreto College (Manchester)
Luton Sixth Form College
Newham 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 Dominic's Sixth Form College (Harrow)
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)