Outrage as DfE hire refuses national recommendation to raise pay

College principal Gillian May is now set to leave at the end of the month to take up a senior post, as deputy commissioner for further education, at the Department for Education. Despite holding down her own staff's pay, she has accepted a 7.8% increase to her own salary of over £10,000.

The group runs four colleges across Berkshire and Surrey: Slough and Langley College, Windsor College, Strode's College, and the Berkshire College of Agriculture. Staff have already taken five days of action and are asking for a fair pay award. WFCG has refused to even meet the 4% pay award recommended by the Association of Colleges, unlike every other college in the region.

College accounts show WFCG has a £1m operating surplus, £8m of cash reserves and a projected in year surplus of over £1m, more than allowing it to meet staff pay demands.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'Our members have no choice but to strike yet again as Gillian May is refusing to do the bare minimum and meet the employer body's recommended rates of pay.

'It is scandalous that despite trying to enforce poverty pay rates for frontline teaching and support staff, she accepted a £10,000 pay bump.'