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Pay in FE colleges in England
Annual national negotiations on FE pay in England are conducted in the National Joint Forum (NJF) consisting of ATL (and other recognised unions) and the employers' body - the Association of Colleges.
Agreements made in the NJF have the status of recommendations and individual colleges are under no statutory obligation to accept such recommendations.
Each year, a number of colleges do not accept the recommended pay increase in full and so the national pay scales shown must be regarded with caution; members will need to check the actual scales in operation at individual colleges.
Latest news
FE pay 2012-13
The joint union side of the FE National Joint Forum has published its pay claim for 2012-13, recommending a 5% increase with a minimum £750 underpinning.
FE pay 2011-12
The Association of Colleges (AoC) has made a final recommendation in response to the joint pay claim for 2011/12, as follows:
A consolidated salary increase of £200 per annum for staff earning below £21,000 (equivalent to Spine Point 19 of the AoC harmonised pay scale).
A consolidated salary increase of £125 per annum for staff earning £21,000 or above (equivalent to Spine Point 20 or above of the AoC harmonised pay scale).
A consolidated salary increase of £309 per annum for those staff on Spine Point 4 of the AoC pay scale. This increases the salary on the lowest point of the AoC harmonised scale to £13,851 per annum and a recommended minimum hourly rate of £7.20.
The award will be payable from 1 August 2011.
AoC published a recommended pay offer in July 2011, after the FE NJF pay and conditions claim for 2011-12.
Pay
Staff should have been assimilated to a harmonised pay spine by August 2004.
Points 4-44 on the spine can be used for business support staff and points 4-26 for learning support staff. Unqualified lecturers should be paid on a 4 point scale - points 15, 17, 20 and 21 on the harmonised pay spine. Qualified lecturers should be paid on an eight point scale, consisting of points 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35 and 37.
There is a five point range for advanced teaching and training posts (points 37-41) and a pay range for leadership and management posts (points 37-68).
Pay progression
Although there is no explicit reference to incremental progression in national agreements, it is ATL's view that:
unqualified lecturers should progress to the top of their 4 point scale and on through the qualified posts once qualified
qualified lecturers should progress by annual increments to the top of their 8 point scale.
The nationally recommended scales do not provide for any bars or separate bands within the various pay scales/groups.
Background
There are more than 300 FE colleges in England and Wales, including agricultural and horticultural colleges; art, design and performing arts colleges; general further education and tertiary colleges; specialist designated institutions.
Since 1993, each college has been an independent corporation with its own Board of Governors acting as the employer of its staff.
The employers' body representing the newly incorporated colleges, the College Employers' Forum (CEF) (now superseded by the Association of Colleges - AoC) were intent upon introducing new contracts.
These departed from the traditional style of contract in the FE Sector which had a simple contract of employment which incorporated the terms and conditions set out on a national collective agreement.
Against a national background of extremely fraught industrial relations, the position in respect of pay and conditions in FE Colleges became increasingly confused.
It was not uncommon for there to be two, or even more contracts and associated pay scales within the one college, quite apart from the wide variation from college to college.
However, the vast majority of colleges belong to the AoC which negotiates nationally with ATL and other recognised trade unions in the National Joint Forum to produce recommendations on pay and other employment issues for individual colleges to adopt.
Need further advice?
Your first point of contact is your ATL rep in your school or college. Your local ATL branch is also available to help with queries, or you can contact ATL's member advisors on tel: 020 7930 6441 or email us. Please have your membership number to hand when telephoning and include it with any correspondence - this will help us to answer your query more quickly.