Colleges and staff have been trapped in a cycle of dispute and disruption for a decade, and 2024 promises more of the same.

In the past 10 years, there have been 19 formal disputes between college staff and employers.

Typically, these battles have been between employers and the Educational Institute of Scotland’s Further Education Lecturers’ Association (EIS-FELA). But in recent years, support staff have joined the conflict and brought the full sector to the negotiating table. 

Nearly half of the past decade’s disputes have resulted in industrial action.

In the first of a three-part series on the college controversy, we spoke with Gavin Donoghue, director of College Employers Scotland, about how these fights contribute to an unsustainable situation, especially given other financial pressures in the sector.

Mr Donoghue made clear unions’ demands for a bigger percentage of a shrinking pot will force employers to trim their budgets by reassessing their most costly resource: staff.

‘Unsustainable’ budgetary pressures

After a decade of conflict, the college sector is depleted of resources and goodwill on all sides.

Staff are burnt out by negotiations, increasing cost-of-living, and the looming threat of redundancies.

Colleges are shouldering heavier costs as well. Inflation drives higher energy and maintenance fees to keep college buildings wind and watertight.

Coupled with dwindling support from the Scottish Government, these costs and previous staff pay awards make further pay increases more difficult.

Mr Donoghue said the sector is now on a cliff-edge.

“Colleges are already incredibly lean and efficient organizations.

“They have trimmed and trimmed over a number of years, both non staff costs and staff costs, in order to be as efficient as possible. There is no headroom left in colleges, and that's the main issue.”

A decade of dispute

Since 2014/15, college staff have launched 19 formal disputes over pay and conditions. Of these, nine were on behalf of lecturing staff and 10 on behalf of support staff.

In the same period, there have been seven instances of industrial action, including multiple strikes.

Read more: College strikes could return as lecturers balloted on action

EIS-FELA has taken industrial action on its own five separate times. Unions representing support staff (Unite, Unison, and GMB in 2016/17 and Unite and UNISON in 2023/24) have joined them twice.

These constant disputes and the resulting pay awards have taken their toll, Mr Donoghue said.

Audit Scotland’s annual report on colleges in 2022 warned that colleges will struggle to balance their budgets while meeting the goals set out by the Scottish Government.

Mr Donoghue said that the government should provide better funding.

“It's actually the government that needs colleges.

“If you want to have a green skills revolution in the country, if you want to adapt to climate change, automation, and everything else that is part of the agenda – as well as actually helping local communities – the government needs to fund colleges appropriately to do so.”

But the 2023 Audit Scotland report showed that, instead of rectifying the sector’s budget problems, Scottish Government choices deepened them.

The report found that staff costs account for 70% of the college sector budget.  

It labelled rising staffing costs “colleges’ biggest financial pressure,” and noted that Scottish Government funding for the sector had been cut by 8.5 % in real terms in 2023/24.

Mr Donoghue warns that the sector could crumble without financial support.

“As the funding comes down and the workforce costs continue to increase, that percentage is just going to get more and more.

“That means that 20-to-30% of non-staff costs is going to become an even smaller percentage.

“Ultimately, that is an unsustainable position for colleges to be in.”

Colleges triggering ‘last resort’ measures

With so much of the budget wrapped up in staff costs, Mr Donoghue said cuts are on the table.

“When it comes to redundancies and compulsory redundancies, they are always the last resort for colleges.

“They look at trimming non-staff costs as much as possible first, and then if there was to be workforce reductions, they would try as hard as they possibly could to use voluntary severance.

“Only as a last resort would they ever consider compulsory redundancies.”

Read more: City of Glasgow College strike ends as union accepts deal

While union leaders, colleges and the Scottish Government disagree on whether colleges can legally make compulsory redundancies, the threat of job losses remains real.

Last year, following months of strikes and negotiations, local union representatives recently won an agreement which avoided 100 proposed job cuts at City of Glasgow College.

But the next threat may be just around the corner. With the release of the government’s draft budget for next year, the college faces the possibility of losing up to £33 million in consecutive years.

Mr Donoghue said that this means more difficult choices for colleges.

“Sadly, we’re now facing the prospect of fresh cuts in funding, if the draft Scottish Budget for 2024/25 is passed by Parliament.

“If funding for colleges continues to decline, and staff costs continue to rise, colleges will undoubtedly need to make some very difficult decisions to try to balance their books.”

Two sides to every fight

While college leaders point to a shrinking budget to push back on union demands, union leaders maintain that college leaders and the government are responsible for finding ways to fairly support staff.

Tomorrow, we speak to Stuart Brown, national further education officer for EIS-FELA, about where current pay negotiations are breaking down, the union’s decision to escalate its tactics, and how he thinks the government can put more money towards colleges.