Striking teachers picket Chancellor's office

Striking teachers have held a rally outside the Leeds constituency office of Chancellor Rachel Reeves to demonstrate about pay.

The group were joined by National Education Union (NEU) general secretary Daniel Kebede following a government announcement in July that teachers would receive a 5.5% pay rise this year.

The union has objected as sixth form colleges without academy status have not been guaranteed funding to implement the award.

The picket line in Bramley was held during the fourth one-day strike by staff at the 32 colleges in England that are affected.

Mr Kebede said around 2,000 of the union's members were taking part in the latest walk-out.

He said: "We think the lack of pay award could have been an honest mistake. However they have not so far heeded our calls."

He added: "We are are hoping the government will begin to listen because, of course, we have more strike days planned in January which we really want to avoid.

"This is a no-brainer. It's small beer to correct - about £15m of funding is required."

A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said the government recognised the "vital role" played by sixth form colleges but that they were responsible for setting "appropriate pay for their workforce and managing their own industrial relations".

The spokesperson added that the autumn Budget had provided an additional £300m revenue funding for further education and would set out in "due course" how it would be distributed.

The NEU said there would be further strike action on 7, 8 and 9 January unless steps were taken to guarantee the same pay award to all teachers.

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