TWO Scottish colleges have come under fire for giving cash to managers at a time when support staff are taking industrial action over salaries.

Public sector union Unison described the actions of City of Glasgow College and Edinburgh College as "despicable" - just days after announcing strike action over an "unfair" pay offer to their members.

The union hit out after it emerged performance-related payments totalling £31,729 were shared between seven senior managers at City of Glasgow College in 2015/16 following the opening of the new Nautical College building.

In addition, Unison is concerned the board of Edinburgh College has endorsed a proposal to award middle managers a 1.5 per cent pay increase backdated to April 2015, as well as a two per cent increase from April 2016, outside the collective bargaining process.

The move comes despite the fact Edinburgh College has hit financial problems with a £5 million deficit - due in part to the fact it had its teaching grant cut after breaking rules on student registration.

John Gallacher, Scottish organiser for further education at Unison, said it was wrong for managers to receive payments "way beyond" those offered to other staff during a national strike on a pay rise for some 5,000 support workers.

He said: "All further education staff from the janitor to the principal should be part of the new single, unitary national joint negotiations and subject to the same collective agreements incorporated into employment contracts."

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute for Scotland, added: "All staff need to be paid fairly and consistently across the whole further education sector. This should be done openly and transparently through the national bargaining process."

However, a spokeswoman for City of Glasgow College said senior managers were not part of national bargaining and that discretionary payments could be made in exceptional circumstances. She added: "All such remuneration is approved by the college's board of management and published."

Edinburgh College declined to comment on the pay increases.

The row comes against a backdrop of uncertainty in the sector as a result of a return to national bargaining which was enshrined in the Post-16 Education (Scotland) Act 2013.

Progress has been slow and Unison also argue support staff have been treated differently from other workers including lecturers. Earlier this week, the union announced support staff at 20 of Scotland’s colleges would go on strike on Tuesday.

Shona Struthers, chief executive of Colleges Scotland, said a strike would bring massive disruption to students and teaching staff, and Unison members had been offered the same percentage increase as lecturers - which equated to 2.5 per cent over two years.

She said: “According to our calculations, Unison's demands would add £3.3 million to the college sector payroll, which is not financially sustainable going forward.”

Last year, it emerged Edinburgh College was facing a deficit in excess of £5m because of a failure to recruit enough students to meet its targets.

The problem arose because college officials were enrolling existing students on additional courses and claiming money for it which is against Scottish Funding Council rules.

The college was formed from a merger in 2012 which saw Edinburgh’s Jewel and Esk, Telford and Stevenson colleges combine.