Sixth form college staff strike over pay dispute

Teachers at three sixth form colleges across Sussex have begun the first of three one-day strikes over pay.

About 8,000 students at Varndean College, Brighton Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College (BHASVIC), and Collyer's in Horsham are all being affected by the National Education Union (NEU) action on Thursday.

Staff at 32 colleges across England are walking out in a dispute over cuts to their pay and funding in comparison to maintained schools, the union says.

A Department for Education spokesperson said; “Sixth form colleges are responsible for the setting of appropriate pay for their workforce and for managing their own industrial relations."

The NEU, which won a 97% vote in favour of strike action by its members, said it expected most teaching staff would be involved in the strike, with two further days of action planned for 3-4 December.

BHASVIC says that on each of the three strike days onsite lessons have been cancelled.

It added that students would be able to access some areas of the campus such as the library, main hall and canteen to continue their independent studies.

Principal William Baldwin said: "Strike action is always a last resort, particularly for our staff who are singularly dedicated to the success of all our students.

"In the summer, [the government] extended a 5.5% pay rise to primary, secondary and teachers who teach in school sixth forms and 16 to 19 academies, but they did not extend those pay rises to my teaching staff - and that is not good enough."

Many schools in England had already budgeted for pay increases of about 3% from September. The government announced in July that it would provide an extra £1.2bn to top that up to the 5.5% offer - but sixth form colleges were not included.

A union spokesperson said: "This means that colleges who have seen their funding cut in real terms year after year, will either be unable to fund the same pay rise as other teachers or face unacceptable cuts to their budgets."

A Department for Education statement said: “The October budget provided an additional £300m revenue funding for further education to ensure young people are developing the skills this country needs.

"The department will set out in due course how this funding will be distributed.”

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