College staff and students to lobby MPs over adult learning funding cuts

Staff and students will meet on Parliament Square at 2pm before moving over to the Houses of Parliament to lobby their MPs between 3pm and 5pm.

The lobby has been called following the announcement that funding for adult learning in England is to be cut by up to 24% in 2015/16. UCU has estimated that the proposed cuts would lead to around 400,000 learners losing out on opportunities to improve their skills.

A petition calling for the cuts to be reversed has been signed by over 42,000 people. UCU said that adult learning opportunities are crucial for people who need to improve their skills or retrain flexibly.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'For too long, further education has been underfunded and underappreciated. The support for the campaign from across the sector and beyond is testament to how valuable adult learning is for people from all sorts of backgrounds.

'MPs now need to listen to the concerns of those working and studying in further education and take action to protect the future of the sector. We should be expanding opportunities for people to retrain, not cutting vital resources.'