Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of the 2025-26 further education funding settlement on colleges’ ability to recruit and retain teaching staff; and what estimate she has made of the current pay gap between further education college staff, school teachers and equivalent industry roles.

Further education (FE) teachers are central to delivering high-quality technical education. The department announced an additional £190 million for colleges and other 16 to 19 providers for the 2025/26 financial year to help them address immediate pressures, including supporting recruitment and retention of specialist FE staff.

We are providing nearly £9 billion in 16 to 19 programme funding for the 2026/27 academic year. This will support colleges in their key priorities, including supporting the recruitment and retention of excellent teachers and non-teaching staff.

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.

Maintained schoolteachers' pay is set nationally subject to recommendations from the School Teachers’ Review Body. FE colleges have statutory autonomy over the pay of their staff.