Dear [MP Name], 
 
For the last 14 years of Tory rule, educators working in the further education (FE) sector have seen tragic underinvestment in terms of wages, site investment and student funding. We hoped that the Chancellor's recent financial statement would start to correct previous failings. Yet while teachers in pre-16 education have been offered an above-inflation pay rise, once again FE staff and students have been ignored. I am writing to you in the hope that you will support FE staff in their calls for fair funding. 
 
I understand the Treasury will only honour the recommendations of existing pay review bodies, but this equates to a double penalty for FE staff who are beholden to the Association of Colleges (AoC), who have no real power to enforce or negotiate on either side.  
 
We do not want to believe that the Labour government cannot be trusted with education and does not understand why their skills agenda and FE go hand in hand, but recent announcements show a failure to grasp how critical FE is for growth and access to opportunities. Our students rely on well-paid, well-trained teachers to give them the skills they need to realise their aspirations and make positive contributions to their local communities. This is vital to help the country push forward with Labour’s vision for a Fourth Industrial Revolution. 
 
Without action on pay and conditions, without respect for the FE sector, without understanding of the job we do, a decline in FE educators will continue. Many electricians, bricklayers, plumbers, plasterers, and IT technicians (to name but a few) can earn vastly more in the private sector than in FE and without those trades taught by competent FE teachers this country will struggle to grow. 
 
Please, write back to me with assurances that you will highlight this cause and amplify our urgent calls for fair FE funding that is in parity with pre-16 schools.  
 
Sincerely,