Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to extend eligibility for Early-career payments to teachers in sixth form colleges.
Sixth form colleges have a different legal status and relationship to the Government when compared with schools. They are independent of the Government and the Department plays no role in setting their pay and conditions. Therefore, they are not eligible for the Teachers' Pay Grant or the Early Career Payments for school teachers. The Department continues to work closely with the further education (FE) sector to consider how best to support its needs.
We have announced a 16-19 funding increase of £400 million for 2020-21 – the biggest injection of new money into 16-19 education in a single year since 2010. This includes a 4.7% increase in the 16-19 base rate of funding and £20 million of new funding for the FE workforce.