Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps is she taking to help improve pay and conditions in the further education sector.

Further education (FE) colleges, rather than the government, are responsible for setting and negotiating staff pay and terms and conditions within colleges.

In May 2025, the department announced a further £190 million investment for colleges and other 16 to 19 providers in addition to the £400 million of extra funding we already planned to spend on 16 to 19 education in financial year 2025/26.

Across the Spending Review period, we will provide £1.2 billion of additional investment per year in skills by 2028/2029.

This significant investment will ensure there is increased funding to colleges and other 16 to19 providers to enable the recruitment and retention of expert teachers in high value subject areas, and interventions to retain top teaching talent

Targeted recruitment incentives of up to £6,000 (after tax) are available for eligible early career FE teachers working in key science, technology, engineering and mathematics and technical shortage subjects, in disadvantaged schools and colleges (including in Sixth Form Colleges). This payment is separate to teachers’ usual pay.