Further education

Support staff terms and conditions – England

(27/4/10) Results of recent UNISON, GMB, UNITE and Association of Colleges’ support staff terms and conditions survey.

Download the survey results in PDF format

Reps should compare their college’s support staff terms and conditions against the survey results.

If your college is below the benchmark identified in the report you should immediately raise this with college management. Please note however, that the survey should not be used in anyway to level down existing terms and conditions in your college.

One of the concerning aspects of the survey was the number of respondent colleges that had outsourced a key service.

UNISON is opposed to the outsourcing of public services. We believe it can lead to a damaging deterioration in service levels as contractors implement cuts in a bid to increase their profit levels.

We are also concerned that outsourcing leads to the development of a two tier workforce. New starters on outsourced contracts are often placed on inferior terms and conditions compared to those of both TUPE transferred and in house staff.

In addition outsourcing can create VAT issues leading to additional costs for colleges. We will be issuing important negotiating guidance on outsourcing for college reps shortly.

One other key point to note is that the average minimum hourly rate of pay identified from survey responses was £6.79 an hour – excluding any London weighting.

Please note however, that the benchmark for your college should be the minimum hourly rate of pay of the AoC harmonised pay scale which is currently £7.01 per hour.