Pay settlements for further and higher education

THE further and higher education sectors have settled their pay negotiations with government. Staff in higher education (HE) accepted 5% as the final part of a three-year deal linked to the retail prices index (RPI). UCU university and college union members have seen their wages rise by 15% since 2006. Sally Hunt, UCU general secretary, said: “It is a good deal and does go some way to addressing declining academic salaries.”

The further education (FE) sector has not fared so well, accepting a settlement in October of 3.2% for colleges in England in 2008-09. However, not all colleges have implemented the national rise. UCU national head of further education Barry Lovejoy said: “It is a continuing problem that the national pay settlement is only a recommendation to colleges.”

UCU are redoubling efforts to bring colleges into the fold. “We are relaunching our campaign around ensuring that colleges adhere to new pay scales introduced in 2004,” Lovejoy said. “We have targeted 17 colleges with possible industrial action at the end of January if they don’t implement it.”