Teachers at 32 sixth form colleges are set to walk out for three days amid a dispute over pay. Seven colleges in Greater Manchester are among those where staff are set to strike.
The strike is expected to involve more than 2,000 National Education Union (NEU) members working at 32 non-academised sixth form colleges. They are set to walk out on Wednesday, January 29; Thursday, February 6; and Friday, February 7.
According to the NEU, the strike is the latest step in an ongoing dispute with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson over an ‘enduring failure’ to provide funds for a pay award that would represent a ‘meaningful step towards pay restoration’. The Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA) says it is ‘extremely disappointed’ by the announcement.
Seven days of strike action have already been taken by NEU members since November. The latest move comes after the Government announced teachers in schools across England would receive a fully funded 5.5 per cent pay rise from September 2024.
According to the NEU, the SFCA offered teachers in non-academised sixth form colleges 3.5 per cent for September 2024 to March 2025, then 5.5 per cent from April onwards. Meanwhile, teachers in sixth form colleges with academy status have been offered 5.5 per cent from September 2024, leading to accusations of a ‘two tier pay system’ from the NEU.
NEU general secretary, Daniel Kebede, 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.
Daniel Kebede, NEU general secretary
(Image: James Manning/PA Wire)
“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 longstanding 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 per cent 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 added: “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.”
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.
Full list of colleges affected by the NEU strike
Aquinas College, Stockport
Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, Eastleigh
Bolton Sixth Form College
Brighton Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College
Cardinal Newman College, Preston
Christ The King Sixth Form College, Lewisham
Christ The King Sixth Form College Aquinas, Brockley
Capital City College, Angel, Islington
Greenhead College, Huddersfield
Henley College
Hills Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge
Holy Cross College, Bury
Itchen College, Southampton
Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College, Birmingham
Leyton Sixth Form College
Loreto College, Manchester
Luton Sixth Form College
Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College, Leeds
Peter Symonds College, Winchester
The College of Richard Collyer, 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 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 , Hull
Xaverian College, Manchester