V-level rollout 'pie in the sky' without substantial investment in staff

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'Tearing up the current post-16 qualification framework and asking already overworked staff to create completely new courses will require substantial investment from the government.

'Ministers must set out a clear road map that shows how colleges will recruit and retain the skilled further education staff needed to deliver the new V-level qualifications. Believing you can use colleges to get more young people into work and training without increasing staff pay is just pie in the sky thinking.

'Further education has been subject to a brain drain with one in two staff leaving within three years of joining. As it stands, the salaries offered by colleges are not nearly competitive enough with schools and industry to recruit, let alone retain, staff.

'We now need to see a joined-up skills and workforce strategy backed by big increases in funding for V-levels to be a success.

'The crisis in further education is so great UCU is currently balloting around 10,000 further education staff. The government can show it is serious by helping deliver pay parity with schools, bringing in national bargaining and ensuring workloads are manageable.'