Workers protest over job cuts as colleges waste millions on consultants and agency staff

As low paid staff carry out lunchtime protests today over redundancies and nursery closures, a Freedom of Information request carried out by the unions reveals shocking sums.

Seventy nine colleges in England that had refused to give staff earning less than £17,000 an agreed pay increase of £550 in 2008-09, or a pay offer of 3.2, were targeted in the survey. And the results show that those employers spent a total of £29,533,507 on agency workers and £21,680,000 on consultants last year, bringing it to a massive £51,213,507.

The unions are calling for an end to job cuts and nursery closures at a time when they are most needed by their communities. More than fifty employers have already announced plans to axe jobs, with the numbers increasing daily. The unions are also demanding that colleges pay low paid staff the £550 agreed in last year's pay claim.

Further education remains one of the lowest paid areas in the public sector, with the average cleaner in FE getting paid just £5.82 an hour.

UNISON's national officer for further education and joint trade union side secretary, Chris Fabby, said: 'It is shocking that further education colleges are closing down nurseries and cutting jobs at the same as wasting millions on consultants fees.

'Rather than putting hardworking staff on the dole they should sit down with us and we will tell them how to save money. Many FE colleges say they cannot afford to give their low paid staff a minimum salary increase of £550 this year. But they could save millions if they recruited full time, permanent staff instead of using agency workers. Recruitment agency owners and consultants must be laughing all the way to the bank. They are making off with millions of pounds of taxpayers cash. Employment agencies routinely charge more than 50 per cent on top of what they pay their staff. This money should be spent on protecting jobs and college courses.'

UCU head of further education, Barry Lovejoy, and joint trade union side secretary said: 'It's small wonder that staff are so sceptical when college principals talk about the need for making cuts and tightening belts. Staff are the lifeblood of institutions and it is a disgrace that management are putting their jobs on the line by spending tens of millions on consultants and agencies.

'Successful colleges are built from the bottom up not from the top down. Management should be investing money in services for students and offering hard working teachers and support staff decent conditions of service. Further education can play a key role in re-skilling the UK population and retraining people during the current recession. It cannot afford this draining of resources.'