FE agreements in England

The vast majority of colleges in England are members of the Association of Colleges (AoC), an employers' organisation which negotiates nationally with UCU and other recognised trade unions (UNISON, ATL, ACM, T&G and GMB) in the National Joint Forum (NJF) to produce recommendations on employment issues for individual colleges to adopt.

UCU has negotiated a wide range of collective agreements within the National Joint Forum which are recommended for adoption by FE colleges in England.

UCU does not regard all these agreements as models of best practice and they should be regarded as representing minimum standards to be implemented and improved on locally. They are not intended to worsen any existing local agreements.

The agreements are arranged below as follows:

• Leave
• Career
• Equality
• Employment
• Union
• Pay agreements

Leave

 Guidelines for adoption leave in FE (Eng/Wal), Oct 08 (.doc) [256kb]

 Guidance for family purposes & dependants leave in FE (Eng/Wal) (.doc) [31kb]

 Guidance for maternity leave in FE (Eng/Wal), Oct 08 (.doc) [66kb]

 Guidelines for parental leave in FE (Eng/Wal) (.doc) [29kb]

 Guidelines on sickness leave in FE (Eng/Wal) (.doc) [31kb]

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Career

 Guidelines for the development and use of career families and career pathways in FE (England) (.doc) [273kb]

•  FE career pathways - example role outline: teaching and training (England) (.doc) [26kb]
•  FE career pathways - example role outline: advanced teaching and training (England) (.doc) [38kb]
•  FE career pathways - example role outline: leadership and management (England) (.doc) [37kb]

 Guidelines for the training and development of employees in FE (Eng), May 09 (.doc) [251kb]

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Equality

Joint agreement on guidance on equality in employment in further education colleges (FE England), May 12:
 Equality in employment guidance (.pdf) [445kb]
 Equality in employment guidance (.doc) [287kb]

In October 2012 UCU produced a briefing for branches on asking employers to adopt the May 2012 equality agreement
 Equality agreement branch briefing (.pdf) [279kb] |  Equality agreement branch briefing (.doc) [147kb]

 Guidance on compassionate leave, paternity leave, time off for fertility treatment and dependants leave in FE colleges, May 09 (.doc) [65kb]

 Guidance for equal pay in FE (Eng/Wal) (.doc) [35kb]

See also:
 Disability equality briefing (incl national agreement), Nov 09 (.pdf) [535kb]
 Disability equality briefing (incl national agreement), Nov 09 (.doc) [226kb]

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Employment

 Guidance on regulating working hours in further education colleges, Nov 09 (Eng) (.doc) [275kb]

 Guidelines on disciplinary procedures in FE (Eng), Dec 09 (.doc) [286kb]

 Guidelines for the employment of fixed-term employees in FE (England), Apr 08 (.doc) [80kb]

 Guidelines for the employment of part-time employees in FE (England), Apr 08 (.doc) [73kb] (see also  NATFHE guidance for branch officers on winning improvements for part-time staff (.doc) [41kb])

 Guidelines on grievance procedures in FE (Eng), Dec 09 (.doc) [246kb]

 Guidelines for handling capability in FE (Eng/Wal) (.doc) [22kb]

 Guidelines on harassment & bullying in FE (Eng/Wal) (.doc) [89kb]

 Guidelines for the development and implementation of a job evaluation scheme in FE (England), Jul 04 (.doc) [304kb]

 Guidelines for performance management in FE (England), Jul 04 (.doc) [273kb]

 Guidelines on recruitment and selection of employees in FE (Eng/Wal) (.doc) [27kb]

 Guidelines on redundancy handling in FE (Eng), Mar 10 (.doc) [248kb]

 Guidance on work-related stress in FE (Eng/Wal) (.doc) [439kb]

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Union

 Guidelines on local recognition and procedural agreements in FE (Eng), Dec 09 (.doc) [240kb]

 National recognition and procedure agreement, May 10 (.doc) [224kb]

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