Senior managers share £400,000 as Barnet and Southgate College refuses to honour 0.7% pay rise

The college's refusal to honour the 0.7%, national further education pay settlement, that was due last August, has led to the three campus trade unions - UCU, Unison and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers - declaring an official dispute and accusing the college of double standards.

It would cost the college £173,000 to meet the national pay increase for all staff at the college - less than half the money spent on the six managers. The unions point out that the 0.7% rise would barely cover new increases in pension contributions and would leave staff far worse off in real terms with inflation running far higher.

The unions had to resort to Freedom of Information requests to discover how much the six managers who left following the merger of Barnet and Southgate colleges had been paid. Since then the college's chair of governors has ignored the unions' written requests for an explanation of why the staff pay rise has not been honoured and why the managers that left were so handsomely rewarded.

UCU regional official, Chris Powell, said: 'This looks like a shocking case of one rule for them and one for everyone else. While a handful of senior managers enjoy a £400,000 redundancy pot, staff are being refused a nationally-agreed pay rise that barely covers the cost of their increased pension contributions.

'The double-standards being employed by the college are quite incredible and now it won't even explain to staff why it's refusing to honour their pay rise, or why the departing managers got so handsomely rewarded.'