1. There Is An Alternative
Please refer to the section of the NUT website dedicated to the campaign against pay and funding cuts in sixth form colleges at for supporting materials.
Say No to Sixth Form College Cuts
Support the NUT Action

2. Sixth form colleges under attack
The sixth form college sector is recognised as successful but is under attack - colleges are implementing redundancies, increases in group size and reductions in courses offered
Teachers have seen pay comparability with schools lost
Students and colleges are suffering from the cuts to teaching and the abolition of the EMA
See notes to further slides for background information on pay and cuts.
Joint NUT/ATL/NASUWT research on the impact of cuts on colleges has painted a bleak picture for teachers and students alike.
The vast majority of colleges faced cuts, with teaching and learning problems likely to result from the cuts.
Redundancies and changes to the staffing structure have been made in many colleges.
Many colleges have worsened teacher pay and conditions, with class size increases and reduced support for students including tutorial time and enrichment.
The replacement of EMA by a bursary scheme with an overall budget less than a third of the EMA has hit retention, and forced students staying in education to avoid travel costs – so limiting their educational options.

3. Action
The industrial action short of strike action which began in autumn is continuing
The national strike action in March 2014 was a great success
In response to the successful action, Gove has offered the NUT talks
Without sufficient progress in the talks, the rolling programme of strikes will continue
In response to the offer of talks, the NUT and NASUWT agreed to suspend the planned national day of strike action scheduled for late in the autumn term.
Our dispute on sixth form college pay and conditions and the impact of funding cuts will be an important part of the talks.

4. Teacher pay
The pay award of only 0.75% was well below the 2.3% in schools
The sixth form college employers froze pay in and
The award was only 1%, not enough to restore comparability with schools – or to prevent a further real terms pay cut
The pay award of only 0.75% resulted in the loss of pay comparability between teachers in sixth form colleges and schools. The maintenance of this comparability is a key NUT priority.
The employers refused to make any pay increase from September 2011, when RPI inflation was 5.6% in September This was its highest level for 20 years and significantly worsened the real terms cuts in the value of teachers’ pay.
The employers’ refusal to increase pay in September 2012 came when inflation was 2.6%. This meant a further real terms pay cut for teachers.
The increase of 1% in September 2013 was the same as in schools, so there was no restoration of comparability – and the award was well below RPI inflation of 3.2% in the same month so there has been yet another significant real terms pay cut. The teacher unions reluctantly agreed to the award, which allows the NUT to continue to focus on our dispute with Michael Gove who is ultimately responsible for the funding pressures on colleges.
The unions and the employers have agreed to establish a joint working party to consider, on a without prejudice basis, wider issues relating to pay parity and the pay framework in sixth form colleges. This also gives us the opportunity to put forward our proposals on measures to tackle excessive workload and working time.
The pay freeze and below-inflation awards come on top of the significant increase in pension contributions, which cut take-home pay on top of the real-terms cuts due to a pay freeze.
Teachers are colleges’ key resource – pay cuts and worsened conditions will drive many teachers out of the sector, so that colleges will lose essential skills and experience at a time when they need to compete against new providers in the sector such as academies.
The unions have drawn the employers’ attention to the impact of high inflation and other factors which make restoration of pay comparability with schools essential; and have also reminded the employers of their previous undertaking on comparability.
The unions have rejected the employers’ position in the strongest terms. The unions have pointed out that the employers’ position is unacceptable, confrontational, unnecessary and makes a mockery of the previous employer commitments.

5. NUT pay and funding campaign
The NUT seeks to defend education from the impact of the cuts
We will continue to seek to work jointly with ATL, NASUWT and Unison on sixth form college issues and will continue to campaign against the Government’s public sector cuts
A range of materials to support the campaign has been made available on the sixth form college members’ section of the NUT website at
The aim of the NUT pay and funding campaign is to highlight the cuts and the damage they will cause. We need to invest in education, including the key sixth form college sector, in order to develop the skills we will need for future economic success. Cuts make no sense in either educational or economic terms.

6. Government cuts
The Government is slashing funding for sixth form colleges
The cuts are ongoing, year after year
Students and teachers have already been hit
The damage will be irreparable
The Government’s attack on sixth form college funding is part of its overall assault on the public sector. The Government is ideologically-driven – it takes no account of the damage that cuts will do, for example damaging life chances for students at the same time as wasting the skills the country will need to secure economic recovery.
was only the first in an ongoing programme of cuts.
Colleges which have used coping mechanisms to limit the impact of cuts will find this increasingly difficult.
Cuts to tutorial/enrichment activities and the abolition of the EMA have already damaged students’ life chances. The cuts to sixth form colleges will reduce opportunities for young people, including their chances of accessing higher education.

7. Why the cuts?
Cuts to funding are part of the Government’s wider public sector cuts
IFS says the cuts are the deepest since at least 1945
The cuts, including to teacher pay, have contributed to the Government’s dreadful record on economic growth
Cuts don’t solve problems, they create them
Cuts don’t solve any problems – they create them by holding back growth and increasing economic hardship for ordinary people.
The Government inherited a growing economy but took us back into recession – recent limited improvements in growth can’t obscure the wasted years caused by the Government’s dogma-driven economic policies.
Cuts reduce spending power, increase benefit costs and result in lower taxation receipts.

8. The long-term picture
The chart shows how UK public debt has been the norm throughout the last century and has been much higher than it is now as a proportion of GDP (see next slide for bullet points).

9. A history lesson
UK public debt is significantly lower than in many other major economies
National debt is not new - it has been much higher in the past
Between 1916 and 1970, UK debt was much higher than now - yet we could still fund the creation of the welfare state and the NHS
See graph on previous page. The creation of the welfare state and the long period of economic growth which followed shows how public spending is an essential driver of economic growth. Just as the private sector would not have been capable or willing to create the welfare state, so it is now unable to secure our future economic needs – the private sector is refusing to make the investments we need.

10. College cuts don’t heal
Sixth form colleges face real terms cuts of almost a fifth by 2015
Funded guided learning hours (enrichment/tutorial funding) being cut by 75%
16-19 education cuts are particularly severe
New funding formula likely to create more problems
The cuts have happened despite the increase in the participation age and the key role education should play in helping our economy recover.
The cut in enrichment/tutorial funding has been estimated by the Times Educational Supplement to result in an overall funding cut of 10% by 2015, adding to the pressure on sixth form college funding.
In October 2011 the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies reported that all areas of education spending faced real terms cuts between and – but that cuts to spending on education are particularly severe. IFS noted that this was “particularly challenging” given the increase in the education leaving age from 16 to 18.
IFS reported that “sixth form funding” (they don’t differentiate between school sixth forms and sixth form colleges) is due to be cut by 17.6% over the period to
The funding gap between schools and sixth form colleges is significant and the result of a number of factors including different national funding rates, VAT liability and different arrangements for additional learner support. It should be closed on the basis of levelling up provision for sixth form colleges, but the Government wants to level down – school sixth forms are having their funding cut by even more than sixth form colleges.
Funding per qualification and qualification passed was replaced with funding per student from The changes apply to all providers of education and they will be protected against funding losses per student due to the changes to the funding formula for “at least” 3 years.
The sixth form college sector is essential to economic recovery, which will not be secured without educating a high skills workforce to enable the country to compete in the 21st century.

11. We’re not all in this together
Inequality has grown since 1979
The Government prefers spending cuts to taxing the banks
Tax and NI changes will compound the impact of pay cuts and pension increases
It’s all about privatisation - but public spending is needed to secure growth
22p of every extra £1 earned since 1979 has gone to the top 1% of earners.
A proper focus on tax avoidance, tax evasion and poor rates of collection could save tens of billions of pounds.
A UK Robin Hood Tax would raise £20 billion a year.
Taxing the banks is fairer than increasing VAT and cutting public services – both of these hit the poor hardest.
Public spending is essential to replace the private sector investment lost due to the economic crisis. Long-term public sector investment in education, green technologies, housing and transport is needed to kick-start growth.
The Government’s agenda is based on shrinking the size of the state and privatisation, including academies and free schools. But the public sector plays a key role in promoting fair pay, providing good working conditions and supporting equal opportunities. Two-thirds of public sector employees are female. The fairness agenda will suffer as public services are attacked.

12. Education for growth
A first class education system is essential for growth
We need to invest in colleges & teachers to enable young people to access HE - but the Government is cutting teacher pay and pensions as well as college funding
A Government that doesn’t value education doesn’t understand economics
Only a highly-skilled workforce will enable the UK economy to compete effectively in the 21st century global economy. Education cuts represent a massive waste of skills that are needed to secure growth. We need to value schools and the teaching profession, by improving teacher pay and conditions. Instead, the Government is freezing teachers’ pay and attacking their pensions.
The sixth form college sector is a valued and successful. It provides an essential gateway to higher education for many students.

13. What can we do? Support the action
Talk to teachers in your college about the importance of the action
Lobby your MP and local media
We know there is an alternative – you can be part of the fight back!
Successful action is essential to win the fight against sixth form college cuts and their impact on teachers and students alike.
More information can be found at