Assessors and Verifiers Left Behind in FE Pay Levels, Says John Capey

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Doctor John Capey, the Chairman of the Institute of Assessors and Verifiers (IAV) has criticised the unequal pay levels within the FE sector, claiming that assessors and verifiers are often lagging far behind their college lecturer counterparts.

The retiring chairman, with many years of experience within the FE sector, was responding to questions fromFE News regarding the pay gap within the FE sector. The University and College Lecturers” Union (NATFHE) have been vocal in their protest on behalf of their members” pay deals, which were agreed some months ago and many of which have yet to be honoured.

Pay for All?

Most recently, hundreds of NATFHE lecturers descended on Birmingham and held a protest in the biting wind outside the Association of Colleges (AoC) Conference in November, demanding that their pay deals be honoured and a better salary increase in line with their school ““ based counterparts be offered. This formed part of a national day of protest organised by the union, with pickets across the country.

The protest was at least in part over the average wage of a Further Education College Lecturer being paid an average starting salary of £20,000 per year, which NATFHE argues is too low. However, inequalities also exist within FE and not just when holding it up for comparison with other areas of education provision. Dr. Capey told FE News that it was not unheard of for experienced assessors to be paid a mere £13,000 per year.

“Appalling”

Describing this situation as “appalling”, Dr. Capey called on NATFHE to look at the position of assessors and verifiers as well, saying: “It’s a pity NATFHE doesn”t also look at what the pay rates are in private training organisations for trainers, assessors and verifiers.” He also said that the salary levels in colleges were favourable in comparison with those of many assessors, saying: “£20,000 a year is a very good salary in comparison with the going rate in work based training.”

He continued by pointing out the £7,000 discrepancy that he has noticed: “It is not uncommon to find salaries of around £13000 being paid to experienced assessors and verifiers, or example.” He concluded by saying that this was “one of the issues the IAV has been fighting to improve.”

It should be noted that the Education Secretary, Ruth Kelly MP, refused to be drawn on the issue of pay deals when asked directly at the AoC Conference about this issue. That question was targeted at FE College lecturers; whether a response and any move towards fairer pay deals will be forthcoming with private training organisations remains to be seen.

Jethro Marsh

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