FE pay gap is clearly a barrier to recruitment and retention, says AoC

In response to the Gatsby Foundation and the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) report on the FE college workforce, David Hughes, Chief Executive, Association of Colleges said: “This report echoes and evidences what we have long- known to be true: that we have major challenges in FE recruitment and retention, particularly in key sectors like construction, engineering and digital.

“While a lot of staff in FE enjoy flexibilities and benefits they wouldn’t get in industry, the pay gap between FE and secondary school teachers and workers in industry cannot be ignored and is clearly a major barrier to recruiting teachers in colleges and ensuring existing staff feel properly valued and compensated for their workloads.

“I agree with the recommendations set out by the report: an increase in funding to match FE pay with school teachers, a long-term strategy to reduce FE teacher workload, and an enhancement of the FE workforce data collection. Both industry and colleges need to work together to bridge the recruitment gap with those who are suited to a second career in teaching.

“Without skilled lecturers in colleges, skills shortages continue to grow, and the government will simply be unable to deliver on its manifesto commitments on new homes, net zero, a reformed NHS, productivity and economic growth.

“The government has an opportunity in the autumn budget to deliver a significant injection of funding into the sector. Introducing VAT relief for colleges, in the same way it does for schools and academies, would produce around £210 million a year. This could start to help to alleviate the severe recruitment and retention challenges.”