There are over 325 FE colleges in England and Wales. Each college is an independent corporation with its own Board of Governors and the legal employer of its staff. Both pay and conditions of employment within the FE sector can vary considerably from college to college.

It is important that you check with your local branch secretary for details of your particular entitlements, including those applying to part-time employees .

The vast majority of colleges are members of the Association of Colleges, an employers' organisation which negotiates nationally with NATFHE and other recognised trade unions (UNISON, ATL, ACM, T&G and GMB) in the National Joint Forum to produce recommendations on pay and other employment issues for individual colleges to adopt.

There is a separate negotiating committee on pay for colleges in Wales - see the Wales regional page.

National collective agreements covering a wide range of policies and procedures on employment issues have been negotiated and agreed within the NJF and are recommended for adoption by FE Colleges in England and Wales. These can be downloaded as Word documents:

• Joint Agreement on Guidelines on Adoption Leave
• Joint Agreement on Guidance for the Development and Use of Career Families and Career Pathways
• Example role outline: teaching and training (Word doc)

• Example role outline: advanced teaching and training (Word doc)

• Example role outline: leadership and management (Word doc)
• Joint Agreement on Guidance on Disability Equality
• Joint Agreement on Guidelines on Disciplinary Procedures
• Joint Agreement on Guidelines on Employment of Fixed-Term Employees
• Joint Agreement on Guidelines on Employment of Part-Time Employees
(see also Guidance for Branch Officers on Winning Improvements for Part-Time Staff )
• Joint Agreement on Guidance on Equality
• Joint Agreement on Guidance on Equal Pay
• Joint Agreement on Guidance on Family Purposes and Dependants Leave
• Joint Agreement on National Guidelines on Grievance Procedure
• Joint Agreement on Guidelines for Handling Capability
• Joint Agreement on Harassment
• Joint Agreement on Guidelines for a Job Evaluation Scheme
• Joint Agreement on Local Recognition and Procedural Agreements
• Joint Agreement on Guidelines for Maternity Leave
• Joint Agreement on Guidelines for National Recognition and Procedure Agreement
• Joint Agreement on Guidelines for Parental Leave
• Joint Agreement on Guidelines for Performance Management *
• Joint Agreement on Guidance on Race Equality
• Joint Agreement on National Guidelines on Recruitment and Selection of Employees
• Joint Agreement on National Guidelines on Redundancy Handling
• Joint Agreement on Guidelines on Sex Equality
• Joint Agreement on Guidance for Sexual Orientation Equality
• Joint Agreement on Guidelines on Sickness Leave
• Joint Agreement on Guidelines for Training and Development of Employees
• Joint Agreement on Guidelines for Transgender Equality 
• Joint Agreement on Guidance on Work Related Stress

Please note that the recognised trade unions do not regard all these agreements as models of good practice (with the exception of the Equality Agreements). However they should be regarded as representing minimum standards, which should be implemented and can be improved on locally. They are not intended to worsen any existing local agreements. Guidance notes on agreements marked * can be downloaded from our FE publications page.

OTHER GUIDANCE

LSC funded Guidance for FE Colleges providing for young learners can be found on the LEACAN website .

FUTURE WORK IN HAND

Negotiations are currently taking place with NJF working Parties to produce agreements on:
• time off for trade union duties
• guidance on equal pay, gender, disability, religion sexual orientation and age
• agency work.

NORTHERN IRELAND

In Northern Ireland there are 16 incorporated institutions with centralised machinery for bargaining on pay and conditions - see Northern Ireland regional page.