Save Adult Education
18 June 2025
Save Adult Education is a new campaign from UCU. It covers staff working in general FE colleges who teach adults ESOL, English and maths, functional skills, or any of the many adult courses offered at colleges across the country.
The campaign also includes adult institutes, private and charitable adult education providers, as well as adult and community education (ACE) delivered through local and combined metro authorities. Our aim is to reverse cuts to the Adult Skills Fund, promote social cohesion, defend members' jobs, and champion professional respect. UCU will fight the cuts to adult education funding, with our members at the heart of the campaign.
What are UCU's central demands?
- UK government to reverse the cuts to adult and community education (ACE)
- Invest in adult skills and adequately fund ACE
- A joined up national strategy on skills and education with ACE playing a central role
- Staff treated as education professionals and on secure contracts with comparable terms and conditions with other educators.
How will UCU carry out this campaign?
- Pressure the UK government, metro mayors and employers
- Highlight the impact that cuts to the adult skills fund will have on communities, learners of all ages, UK's growth ambitions
- Promote the role of ACE in the skills and employment strategies, the decade of renewal, NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training), Just Transition agenda, social cohesion, lifelong learning for all
- Fight all redundancies and course closures in ACE.
What are the campaign activities?
- Save Adult Education petition
- Email your MP, metro mayors, ministers campaign
- Briefing documents making UCU's case for ACE
- Getting our ACE branches and members active
- Online members meeting and launch event, Thursday 10 July
- Parliamentary lobby
- Fighting all redundancies in ACE.
What are the key dates?
- Campaign launch online meeting, Thursday 10 July (18:00-19:00)
- Save Adult Education petition live also in July
- Email your MP, metro mayors, ministers campaign and new resources throughout July
- Week of ACE-themed action in September
- Parliamentary lobby in September/October.
Latest developments
- Save Adult Education campaign launch online meeting, July 2025
- Save Adult Education petition and Email your MP tool
- Resources
Save Adult Education campaign launch online meeting, July 2025
You can watch the Save Adult Education campaign launch online meeting, which was held on Thursday 10 July 2025 (18:00-19:00).
Speakers included:
- David Hunter, UCU president-elect and chair of the further education committee (FEC)
- Maxine Looby, UCU immediate-past president
- Jane Thompson, UCU bargaining and negotiations official
- Rhianwen Roberts, UCU policy officer
- Paul Bridge, UCU head of further education
- Voices from adult education: reps from City Lit, South and City College Birmingham, Redbridge Institute of Adult Education
Save Adult Education petition and Email your MP tool
In July 2025, UCU launched our Save Adult Education petition calling on the Labour government to reverse its devastating decision to slash funding for adult and community education by 6%.
We ask everyone--UCU members, non-members, workers in all education sectors, students, members of the general public, supporters--to sign this important petition.
We have also launched an Email your MP tool; please use this to ask your MP to call on the UK government to reverse the cuts to adult education in England and properly invest in adult skills.
Resources
Campaign logo (transparent background)
- PrintPrint this page
- Share
