NUT GUIDANCE FOR MEMBERS IN SIXTH FORM COLLEGES
This document gives details of the pay agreement for 2005-06 for teachers in sixth form colleges, agreed in November 2005 by the national negotiating body, the Committee for Teaching Staff of the NJC for Sixth Form Colleges. The agreement has now been ratified by the teacher unions and will be implemented retrospectively from September 2005.

National Joint Council for Sixth Form Colleges

Committee for Teaching Staff – Staff Side

Atl, Nasuwt and Nut

Pay Increase from 1 September 2005

Agreement has been reached on the pay increase for teachers in sixth form colleges effective from 1 September 2005.

The proposed increases were agreed at the Committee for Teaching Staff of the NJC on 25 November 2005. Each of the three teacher unions now will need formally to ratify the agreement. The new pay levels then will be back dated to 1 September 2005.

The agreement secures the teacher unions’ priorities for the 2005 negotiations, which were:

  • maintenance of the national negotiating machinery and national pay structure for sixth form colleges;
  • maintenance of the continued competitiveness of salaries for teachers in sixth form colleges compared with those for school teachers; and
  • implementation of progression to PSP3 from 1 September 2005, and any Management range progression due from that date, for all teachers eligible to progress who have fulfilled the criteria.

As in previous years, this year’s pay negotiations took place in a climate of concern at the colleges’ current funding position. In addition, the negotiations had to take into account the Employers’ worries over the truncation of the Upper Pay Scale in schools, which meant that the fourth points of the PSP and Management Ranges were considerably in excess of UPS3, the maximum point in schools; and also the teacher unions’ concerns over maintaining comparability with schools following the introduction of the new Teaching and Learning Responsibility payments for promoted posts in schools.

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The agreement involves a pay settlement covering the twelve month period from September 2005 to August 2006, with increases of 3.25% on all points on the Main Scale, varying increases on points on the PSP and Management Ranges, plus implementation of continued PSP and Management Range progression from 1 September 2005, leading to an overall pay bill increase of 2.91%. This compares to the imposed seventeen month pay settlement for school teachers, with increases on all scale points of 2.5% rising to 3.25% but equating to an annual pay bill increase of only some 2.2%. Details of the new pay levels are attached.

The agreement has maintained the pay differentials between sixth form colleges’ pay scales and those in schools. Sixth form college teachers’ individual pay entitlements remain ahead of those for school teachers. Both sides affirmed their commitment to maintaining comparability between pay levels in sixth form colleges and schools in future years. The agreement incorporates favourable pay comparators for Management Range postholders for future reference in maintaining these differentials with schools.

The negotiations addressed also the matter of London and fringe area allowances, including the outstanding increase for 2004-05. Agreement was reached on an increase of 2.5% on London and Fringe Area allowances with effect from 1 September 2004, in line with the pay increase for that year. The teacher unions have notified the Employers that a further significant and substantial increase in these allowances is necessary from 1 September 2005 to reflect the increase for school teachers in London and the fringe area. A formal written claim is to be put to the Employers for consideration at a further meeting of the Committee for Teaching Staff.

November 2005

Sixth Form Colleges: Salary Structure for teaching staff

1st September 2005

New Spine Point

1£19,161

2£20,678

3£22,314

4£24,081

5£25,987

6£28,043PSP

PSP RangeP1£30,381

P2£31,483

P3£32,701

P4£33,962

Management Ranges

1 / 2 / 3 / 4
A / £32,604 / £33,731 / £34,893 / £35,650
B / £34,139 / £35,264 / £36,428 / £37,127
C / £36,889 / £38,014 / £39,178 / £39,447
D / £39,039 / £40,039 / £41,178 / £41,451
E / £41,589 / £42,714 / £43,878 / £44,826