More strike days planned for sixth form college teachers in pay dispute

Sixth form college teachers in England will continue strike action in a dispute over pay.

More than 2,000 National Education Union (NEU) members in non-academised sixth form colleges will walk out on January 29, February 6 and February 7, the union has announced.

Seven days of strike action have already been taken by NEU members in 32 non-academised colleges since November.

The Government announced last year that teachers in schools across England would receive a fully funded 5.5% pay rise from September 2024.

The Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA) has offered teachers in non-academised sixth form colleges 3.5% for September 2024 to March this year – and then 5.5% from April, the NEU said.

Meanwhile, teachers in sixth form colleges with academy status have been offered 5.5% from September 2024, seven months earlier than their colleagues in non-academised colleges.

The leader of the NEU said the union opposed the “two-tier pay system” which he called “absurd and blatantly unfair”.

Earlier this week, another teaching union, the NASUWT, launched a ballot of more than 1,800 of its members in sixth form colleges in England for industrial action in a fight for a fair pay increase.

The ballot of NASUWT members in sixth form colleges – both academies and non-academies – will close on February 10.

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said: “Our sixth form teachers working in non-academised colleges started 2025 on below-freezing picket lines, as they showed their determination whatever the weather to reject a two-tier pay system.

“We should not have entered the new year with this glaringly obvious injustice still in place, and it is well past time that the Government put the necessary funding in place to guarantee the same pay award for every college teacher.

“We will never accept a situation in which college teachers in non-academised colleagues are paid less than their academised peers for identical work.

“It is absurd and blatantly unfair to under-fund sixth form colleges in this way, risking lasting damage to long-standing collective bargaining arrangements.

“In affected colleges across the nation, from Brighton to Preston, our members remain steadfast in their desire for pay justice across all sixth form colleges.

“We call on those in power to do what is right and guarantee funding for the same pay rise for all college teachers.”

Bill Watkin, chief executive of the SFCA, said: “We are extremely disappointed that NEU has announced further strike action before our formal pay talks have concluded.

“Pay rates for sixth from college teachers (excluding annual incremental progression increases) have increased by 18% since September 2022.

“We have made a pay offer that amounts to 4.3% across the year and is well above the rate of inflation.

“We cannot make a 5.5% pay offer for the whole year because the Government has not provided funding for the whole year.

“Students will pay the price for this through further disruption to their education.

“The Government could stop the strikes immediately by providing sixth form colleges with the same funding to support a pay increase that they have provided to schools and academies. We urge them to do so without delay.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Ensuring people have the skills they need for the future is crucial to this Government’s number one mission to grow the economy.

“We recognise the vital role that further education, including sixth form colleges, play in this.

“The October Budget provided an additional £300 million revenue funding for further education to ensure young people are developing the skills they need to seize opportunity and drive growth.”