Employees earning under £30,000 at Capital City College Group (CCCG) have won a 9% pay rise, while those earning between £30,000 and £45,000 have secured a 6% increase.
Staff who are also University and College Union (UCU) members, earning between £30,000 and £45,000 will see a 5% increase in August, and then a further 1% from 1 January 2023. The deal is worth up to £2,700 for those on £30,000 and up to £2,600 for those on the higher salary.
Employees who are members of the National Education Union, with the majority working at City and Islington Sixth Form College, will not be eligible for the pay award as they have different contracts and their pay is negotiated separately.
Hourly paid lecturer rates have been increased for this academic year, and will rise further in line with the pay rise by up to 15%, worth up to an extra £4 per hour, and holiday entitlement has also risen by three days. CCCG management stated that they will hold further talks on a consolidated pay award for 2023/24 after Easter in the new academic year.
According to the UCU, the deal was the result of organising and industrial action from its members at CCCG, and highlights that college employers are able to give pay rises to staff to help them with the cost-of-living crisis.
Adam Lincoln, regional official at UCU, said: “This deal is the result of determined organising and industrial action from our members at CCCG. Crucially, it demonstrates that college employers have the resources to offer decent pay rises, which go some way towards protecting low-paid staff from the cost-of-living crisis.”
Sean Vernell, CCCG branch officer at UCU, added: “As the cost of living crisis sharpens, this boost to staff pay packets will help alleviate the worst of the crisis for our members. The deal is also an important step towards achieving parity with schoolteachers pay and thereby help to establish the importance of our sector’s role within the wider education sector.”
Roy O’Shaughnessy, chief executive of Capital City College Group, said: “We are delighted that we’ve been able to reach this agreement. Working collaboratively and with open minds, we put this innovative, tiered pay offer to the unions’ negotiators, who received it well. It is a significant pay award, but tiering it means that those who arguably need the money the most, will get more.”