Working in a further education college

There are more than 300 FE colleges in England and Wales, including agricultural and horticultural colleges; art, design and performing arts colleges; general further education and tertiary colleges; specialist designated institutions.

Since 1993, each college has been an independent corporation with its own Board of Governors acting as the employer of its staff.  

The employers’ body representing the newly incorporated colleges, the College Employers’ Forum (now superseded by the Association of Colleges (AoC) were intent upon introducing new contracts.  

These contracts departed from the traditional style of contract in the FE sector which were simple contracts of employment that incorporated the terms and conditions set out on a national collective agreement – Salaries and Conditions of Service for Lecturers in Further Education (the Silver Book).

Against a national background of extremely fraught industrial relations, the position in respect of pay and conditions in FE colleges became increasingly confused. It was not uncommon for there to be two or more contracts and associated pay scales within one college, quite apart from the wide variation from college to college. Regrettably therefore, it is not possible for ATL to provide exact information to members on pay and conditions in the FE sector as there is no nationally fixed standard that applies in all colleges.

However, the vast majority of colleges belong to the AoC which negotiates nationally with ATL and other recognised trade unions (ACM, GMB, T&G, UCU, UNISON) in the National Joint Forum to produce recommendations on pay and other employment issues for individual colleges to adopt.

Pay

As part of a recommended two-year deal for 2003-05, staff should have been assimilated to a new harmonised pay spine (see the FE pay pages on the main ATL website) by August 2004.

Points 4-44 on the spine can be used for business support staff and points 4-26 for learning support staff.

Unqualified lecturers should be paid on a 4 point scale - points 15, 17, 20 and 21, on the harmonised pay spine.

Qualified lecturers should be paid on an eight point scale, consisting of points 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35 and 37.

There is a five point range for Advanced Teaching and training posts (points 37-41) and a pay range for Leadership and Management Posts (points 37-68).

Pay progression
Although there is no explicit reference to incremental progression in national agreements, it is ATL’s view that:

• unqualified lecturers should progress to the top of their 4 point scale and on through the qualified posts once qualified
• qualified lecturers should progress by annual increments to the top of their eight-point scale.   

The nationally recommended scales do not provide for any bars or separate bands within the various pay scales/groups.

Conditions

All employees are entitled to receive a written statement of their main terms and conditions within two months of starting work. As well as the terms set out in this statement there may be some terms of employment applying to all staff which are contained in a separate document such as a staff handbook (this should be readily available).

Working hours

As there is no national agreement on working hours for lecturers, these can vary considerably from college to college. However, agreements have been reached in a majority of colleges which normally limit weekly working hours to 37 and teaching hours to between 800 and 850 per year. In addition, there is often a weekly limit on teaching hours of 24 hours.

More generally, the 1998 Working Time Regulations place a limit on the working week for all workers of 48 hours, averaged over 17 weeks. However, only time spent  'working at the employer’s disposal and carrying out one’s activities or duties' counts towards 'working time' under these regulations.

Holidays 

Again, there is considerable variation in the amount of paid holiday entitlement available to lecturers employed in different colleges, with a range of between 37 and 60 days plus bank holidays.  In addition, many contracts provide for a specified number of 'efficiency' days when the college is closed and 'self-directed' days when lecturers may work away from the college premises.

It is still unusual for holiday entitlement to be taken during the normal college teaching year, unless there is specific agreement with line managers. Many contracts allow for a minimum of four weeks' consecutive leave to be taken over the summer.

Other entitlements
ATL (together with other recognised unions) and the AoC has recently signed National Guideline Agreements which establish recommended minimum standards for such entitlements as maternity leave, family purposes and dependants' and sickness leave.

These agreements and a number of others covering a wide range of employment issues can be downloaded from the main ATL  website.

Pay and conditions in Welsh FE colleges

In Wales, ATL and the other recognised unions negotiates with fforwm, an employers’ organisation, to produce recommendations on pay for adoption by the individual colleges.

These negotiations have been successful in delivering pay parity with schoolteachers, including arrangements for passing through the threshold.  The latest pay scales can be found on the main ATL website.

Moreover, although FE colleges in Wales are independent institutions, they have all implemented the recommendations on pay, unlike colleges in England, because the Welsh Assembly Government has made funding for pay conditional upon colleges signing up to agreements between fforwm and the recognised unions.

As far as conditions are concerned, however, there is considerable variation from college to college in Wales. This has led the unions to request that fforwm agree to negotiations on common arrangements across Wales.