AoC responds to the Employment Rights Bill

David Hughes, Chief Executive, Association of Colleges, said: “We support the proposals to strengthen workers’ rights in the Employment Rights Bill introduced today. Colleges are responsible employers who strive to create supportive and fair workplaces, with a strong emphasis on wellbeing, inclusion, and work-life balance.

“We know that college employment policies are often driven by the way they are funded and regulated and the way that the education system is organised. For example, colleges sometimes use zero-hour contracts because they cannot predict workload which, in turn, is a function of the timing of exam results in late August and more generally because of the individualised, activity-based funding of apprenticeships, high needs and other areas which makes it hard to predict teaching, training and teaching support workloads.

“At AoC, we will be going through the proposals in detail, working with members, unions and our employment advisors to see what the impact will be on colleges, and what further investment will be needed to ensure they can abide by the new legislation.”