The government has finally revealed the funding allocation of the additional £302m including the purposes for the funding. You can find details of it in FE news here and the actual guidance from government can be found here.

Although colleges in our region will receive a proportion of the additional allocation, the government guidance makes it clear that the money can only be spent on capital expenditure and the purpose of it is to help rebuild the FE estate. That means that the money is not intended to be used on staff pay. The guidance explicitly states:

“Funding should not be used for non-capital expenditure. This includes but is not limited to:

• rent or service charges

• internal and external staffing costs

• recoverable VAT costs incurred

• advertising, marketing, communications or consultancy

• development or updating of websites”

If you have any comments, please add on. Yes, say what you think, but say it to all of us. We need to constantly talk to each other. This is what a true union is.

A little bit of update. SLG will give us confirmation of their response to our current pay claim early November. You should then expect to be contacted by us to express your opinion on whether or not to accept the deal. In the meantime, if you wish to react here to discuss the matter prior to getting an offer, feel free.

08/11/2024: an invitation to a JNCC meeting was sent to us this week. It will take place on 20/11/2024. Hopefully we should have the offer then.

22/11/2024: unfortunately, SLG is still not in a position to confirm a pay award. We now have to wait until January for this. It sounds like it all depends on student numbers. If they do agree for an increase, it will be from 01 January, with the first payment affected by it possibly being in February, backdating to January. If you wish to comment on this, you may use the reply button below or contact us through the UCU email address.

17/01/2025: We will receive an email from Paul today explaining that the pay claim will be confirmed next week as a result of waiting for the second draft to be accepted. We therefore have to wait one more week, but we will still consult on it.

17/02/2025: after consultation, we, as a union, have come to accept the pay rise of 2% (2.56% for highest lecturer scale). Whatever we voted, most of us feel we deserve more. Let’s keep an eye on that extra unconsolidated bit we should get in a few months. As usual, we should make a new claim at the end of the academic year. Any thoughts are welcome here.

Two Campuses – One Branch – Stronger Together!

Hi All

Well done to everyone who came to our branch meeting last week at which despite IT issues threatening to derail us, members formally voted to merge Lowestoft Campus and Great Yarmouth Campus as one larger UCU branch. Although we have been operating jointly for some time now this means we have completed the formal process that means we are now listed as one branch which will give us simpler and stronger collective bargaining power.

We also held info and recruitment stalls at both campuses, again great to meet so many faces old and new, member and non-member. If you missed seeing us and collecting your UCU goodies, we will be repeating this in the new academic year on August 22^nd.  For those that collected Join the Union postcards please distribute those amongst your colleagues and encourage them to join.

As well as the stalls we will also need to hold an AGM in the new year to formally elect our branch Reps and confirm any Dept. Contacts. Although we are pleased to report we have had a couple of members volunteer recently to act as contacts for their Department / Staffroom we still need many more to build a community of contacts so that we can improve branch communication and recruitment so please get in touch via ucu@eastcoastcollege.ac.uk if you are interested in finding out more about how to get involved.

In the meantime, have a great summer break!

Sarah & Julien

We have our regular meeting with SLG called the JNCC -Joint Negotiating Consultative Committee in May where we discuss any relevant issues with management that might collectively affect staff in anyway.

Currently we are expecting to discuss the outcomes of the Workload Survey and also there are discussions taking place regarding the absence policy which will will email members of more detail when we can. It may also be the beginning of our negotiations on pay award for 24-25.

Are there any issues that you think we should be addressing with management ?

Please let us know , we want to hear from you – email us at ucu@eastcoast.ac.uk

We will update you on any outcomes post the JNCC.

Many thanks – Sarah & Julien

Your Local News

While ECC branches fell 3 votes short of the national ballot threshold, local UCU reps have worked hard to secure the best possible final offer from the employer. This offer represents a significant pay rise for lecturers. Those at the top of the scale are receiving a cost of living pay award of 7.76% and the whole scale has changed. The bottom point of the scale is now £33,100 and the top sits at £39,000 for a full-time lecturer.

The employer’s offer is a significant achievement and a testament to the collective power of our union. We need your participation. We need to hear from you – your opinion is important to us. Your voice and vote are crucial in shaping our future. We encourage everyone to engage more actively in union matters. Your participation not only strengthens our bargaining position but also ensures that we accurately represent your interests and concerns. Together, we can continue to make positive changes in our college.

See the other tabs above on this website to Join UCU if you are not already a member and the Get Involved tab if you are to see how you can contribute to further successes