FE pay in England

England FE pay claim 2025/26

In April 2025, UCU has reached agreement with the other further education trade unions (GMB, NEU, Unite and Unison) on this the Joint FE trade unions' pay claim (2025/26) and it has been submitted to the Association of Colleges (AoC).

You can click here to read the full claim here.

The claim is built on the core demands in the New Deal for FE campaign:

• FE pay parity with schoolteachers' pay
• national workload agreements
• a new binding national bargaining framework.

Dates for the pay talks under the National Joint Forum (NJF) are currently being canvassed with the AoC, so please look out for updates as the talks progress.

New Deal for FE

Find out more about our A New Deal for FE campaign (2024/25, 2025/26). UCU will support every FE branch in England in engaging in intense local bargaining, and bring pressure to bear on our college employers nationally. This is the first step towards winning binding national bargaining.

The New Deal for FE campaign is calling for: 

• a 10%/£3000 pay rise
• parity with schoolteacher pay within 3 years
• a minimum starting salary of £30,000 
• reform of the pay spine
• close equality pay gaps
• national agreements on workload
• a return to national bargaining
• putting FE at the heart of a new government's plans.

Click here to read about the Respect FE campaign (2022/23, 2023/24) which called for action to address pay erosion and spiralling workloads as well as a demand for professional respect.

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