Union to ballot 10,000 staff for strikes at 68 colleges in England

Around 10,000 staff at colleges in England will be balloted for strike action, an education union has announced.

The University and College Union (UCU) said on Friday that it will ballot staff at 68 colleges as it calls for higher pay, more manageable workloads and a new national bargaining framework.

UCU warned that if demands are not met the college sector will face “serious disruption in the coming months”.

Along with the National Education Union, the GMB, Unison and Unite, the UCU is calling for a 10% or £3,000 pay rise.

Ballots will open on October 13 and run until November 17.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “It is unacceptable that following years of pay degradation, college staff are expected to stomach further real-terms pay cuts, while at the same time dealing with ever-higher workloads.

“The Prime Minister said this week that Labour wants to put further education on an equal footing with higher education, but this will be impossible unless the Government tackles the issues causing half of college teachers to leave the sector within three years.”

The UCU is also campaigning for parity with school teacher pay within three years, a minimum starting salary of £30,000, national agreements on workload and a binding national bargaining framework.

The Association of Colleges (AoC) last month recommended a 4% pay increase for all college staff for 2025/26, but said it recognised “that for many colleges it simply will not be possible” due to financial constraints.

AoC chief executive David Hughes recognised that a 4% pay increase would leave college pay “uncompetitive”, and called for funding over the next few years to bring college pay in line with school teacher pay.

Ms Grady said: “Further education staff are the beating heart of our communities and transform the life chances of hundreds of thousands of students every year.

“They shouldn’t be forced to ballot for industrial action just to get decent pay and conditions.

“Our demands are reasonable. If they are not met, the sector will face serious disruption in the coming months.”

A report by the Commons Education Select Committee last month said the median salary for college teachers is around £38,000, about 15% lower than for school teachers.

Responding to the strike ballot announcement, Mr Hughes said: “The unions know that colleges cannot meet that 10% pay claim given the funding constraints they are under.

“In our national negotiations, we clearly set out the financial position of colleges, alongside the ambition of every college leader to do the best they can on pay.

“Our 4% recommendation is a strong one and I would hope that college staff would see the enormous strides colleges are taking to achieve that, even though we all know it is not enough to ensure that college pay is fair.”

Further education (FE) saw funding per student fall significantly between 2010/11 and 2019/20, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said earlier this year.

The Chancellor pledged £1.2 billion a year for FE by 2028/29 at the spending review, which the IFS said would take FE spending to its highest level since 2014/15, but still below 2010 levels.

Earlier this week, the Prime Minister announced the Government will introduce a new target for two-thirds of people to either go to university, further education or do a gold-standard apprenticeship by the age of 25.

Sir Keir Starmer also announced 14 new technical excellence colleges.