Teachers at 32 sixth form colleges to strike including seven in Greater Manchester - full list

Teachers at 32 sixth form colleges are set to walk out for three days amid a dispute over pay. Seven colleges in Greater Manchester are among those where staff are set to strike.

The strike is expected to involve more than 2,000 National Education Union (NEU) members working at 32 non-academised sixth form colleges. They are set to walk out on Wednesday, January 29; Thursday, February 6; and Friday, February 7.

According to the NEU, the strike is the latest step in an ongoing dispute with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson over an 'enduring failure' to provide funds for a pay award that would represent a 'meaningful step towards pay restoration'. The Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA) says it is 'extremely disappointed' by the announcement.

Seven days of strike action have already been taken by NEU members since November. The latest move comes after the Government announced teachers in schools across England would receive a fully funded 5.5 per cent pay rise from September 2024.

According to the NEU, the SFCA offered teachers in non-academised sixth form colleges 3.5 per cent for September 2024 to March 2025, then 5.5 per cent from April onwards. Meanwhile, teachers in sixth form colleges with academy status have been offered 5.5 per cent from September 2024, leading to accusations of a 'two tier pay system' from the NEU.

NEU general secretary, Daniel Kebede, said: "Our sixth form teachers working in non-academised colleges started 2025 on below-freezing picket lines, as they showed their determination whatever the weather to reject a two-tier pay system. We should not have entered the new year with this glaringly obvious injustice still in place, and it is well past time that the Government put the necessary