Dear Secretary of State,
I was very pleased that FE in England received £300m extra funding in the budget last week. Thank you for taking the needs of further education to the treasury, and for winning that argument. I am a member of staff in an FE college in England and that money will make a difference in my college. But only if it is used for pay.
Since 2010/11, college income and expenditure has fallen by almost a third, driven by cuts to public funding which make up 83% of college income. A recent report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (https://ifs.org.uk/publications/state-college-finances-england) lays out the consequences these funding cuts have had on staffing in FE. The report states that almost half of all college teachers leave the profession within three years of starting. 
This appalling statistic shows how difficult it is for colleges to develop and retain the expert staff our students deserve. The IFS report concludes that this is in part due to the widening pay gap between college lecturers and schoolteachers. Schoolteachers’ equivalent pay is between £5500 and £9000 more than that of college lecturers. Schoolteachers also have fewer hours teaching and smaller class sizes than the equivalent staff in colleges.
FE students deserve fair treatment. FE staff deserve fair treatment. Last year, when extra funding for FE was announced, the Department of Education made it clear to college leaders that the extra funds were to go on staff pay. I am asking you to repeat that commitment this time round and direct colleges to use this money on pay. That is the only way we are going to recruit and retain the expert staff that our students deserve.
Yours Sincerely,