College principals enjoy more pay rises

by Marianna Keen

Principals are enjoying bumper pay rises despite a legal cap on principals’ pay enforced by public sector union, Unison.

College heads’ average pay rose 56% in the last eight years to nearly £120,000, figures suggest.

Meanwhile, hundreds of college staff are being forced into redundancy.

From 2008-9, college principals were given an average pay rise of 7.1%, while teaching staff were only awarded a 1% rise, show figures.

Employment director at the Association of Colleges Evan Williams said in a recently published interview that there has been ambiguity in the principals’ pay element of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) College Accounts, which the University and College Union (UCU) use as the basis of their analysis.

He said: “Where one principal replaces another in-year the pay of two individuals is sometimes counted as one; data from one year has been attributed to that of another.”

The Association of Colleges have also said pay rates reflect the need for colleges to recruit the best.

UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said she was not against people being properly awarded for hard work but that colleges need to be upfront about why principals’ pay rises are significantly higher than teaching staff.

Hunt said: “At a time when the public sector is facing huge pressure to show restraint these large rises in principals’ pay are embarrassing the further education sector.”