Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to provide additional funding to further education colleges to support staff pay awards in the 2026–27 academic year.

Further education (FE) teachers are central to delivering high-quality technical education. Last year, the department announced an additional £190 million for colleges and other 16 to 19 providers for the 2025/26 financial year to support them with key priorities, including recruitment and retention of excellent teachers. This was broadly equivalent to the funding provided to support the pay award in schools. We are providing nearly £9 billion in 16 to 19 programme funding for the 2026/27 academic year.

In addition, our targeted retention incentive offer is designed to retain eligible FE teachers in technical subjects with payments of up to £6,000 after tax. In its first year, nearly 6,000 teachers received a payment.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and my noble Friend, the Minister for Skills have regular engagement with FE stakeholders including the Association of Colleges (AoC) on a range of issues, including matters pertaining to funding. The setting and negotiating of FE pay remains a matter for individual colleges in line with their local circumstances and is supported by the National Joint Forum, the AoC’s sectoral bargaining arrangement.