Created on: 17 Jun 2026
On Thursday 11th June, EIS-FELA national representatives reached a provisional agreement with Colleges Employers Scotland on your pay increase. Your pay is negotiated via trade union and employer representatives as part of national bargaining.
The provisional agreement was taken to a Special Executive of EIS-FELA on Tuesday 16th June. The decision of Executive is that this provisional agreement should be put to a ballot of members, with a recommendation to vote to accept the offer, thereby ratifying the agreement.
The Lecturing Staff Pay Offer from Colleges Employers Scotland for 2026-2029, is multi-year with varying percentage rises and a trigger to reopen negotiations if inflation reaches a certain level in years two and three.
A consolidated Pay Award of 3.75% for all unpromoted and promoted lecturer scale points, effective from 1 September 2026.
A consolidated Pay Award of 3.25% for all unpromoted and promoted lecturer scale points, effective from 1 September 2027.
A consolidated Pay Award of 3.2% for all unpromoted and promoted lecturer scale points, effective from 1 September 2028.
If inflation (CPI) is 0.5% or higher than the pay uplift for either Year 2 or Year 3 then it will trigger new pay negotiations.
The full Pay Offer may be found here.
The provisional agreement is more than the Scottish Government’s public sector pay policy.
The commitment to Job Security remains as per the agreed wording from the previous pay agreement. Any college which moves to compulsory redundancy will be put under particular scrutiny - Have all other practicable options been exhausted? Are the College acting reasonably? If not, they will be in breach of a national agreement.
The provisional agreement takes the first steps in addressing an issue for our colleagues who live on the Islands. The Distant Islands Allowance is additionally paid to counter the expense of living and working on the islands. Colleges already pay this to staff but receive no ring-fenced funds for it. We have agreed on a joint approach to the government for these additional funds.
The provisional agreement also includes a re-commitment for colleges to fully apply all National Circulars.
A three-year pay deal agreed before the summer break!? Some members might be wondering what has changed for this to be possible.
The previous deal, a (4-year deal in the end) allowed some stability where we worked on Policy together and updated the RPA. There have been joint workshops on Fair Work. It's practically impossible to do this joint working if you are in the throes of Dispute. The past 18 months have allowed some trust to develop and, in the main, there has been constructive bargaining work undertaken because of this.
A further three‑year pay deal, taking us through to August 2029, extends that stability at a moment when relationships are positive and the conditions for progress are strong.
There is still a long list of ongoing work at national bargaining. Hybrid Learning and Teaching, Promoted Posts, Referral process for Instructors/Assessors disputes, Transfer to Permanency, Associate Trainers and Agency Lecturers, Class Size maxima, Reducing Contact hours, Health and Safety, School/College partnerships, Tri-Partite Alignment Group (plus 'College Sector of the Future Workstream' and more generally 'workforce planning') and Calendar Drift. Hopefully, this period of stability will allow us to build further on the good work already undertaken.
EIS-FELA national representatives and Executive recommend you vote Yes to accept this offer. The ballot is open until 5pm on Wednesday, 24th June 2026.