Funding cuts to further education has led to 93 per cent of colleges axing jobs and 80 per cent of them cutting courses, a joint survey by UCU and UNISON has revealed.
Budget cuts to further education of £1 billion has hit front line staff the hardest, with 45 per cent of support staff and 42 per cent of teaching staff made redundant, compared with just 13 per cent of senior and managerial staff.
More job losses are certain as in the survey 53 per cent of the 146 colleges surveyed said that they are planning further redundancies and course closures over the next few months.
Commenting on the survey, Chris Fabby, National Officer for Further Education at UNISON said: "Colleges are being cut to the quick. They have already axed a huge number of jobs and courses. We fear for the future, as the survey shows that the worst is yet to come.”
In the survey 23 per cent of colleges said that they had to turn students away as a result of the funding cuts. The unions say that the crisis in further education will have an impact on social mobility and will cut many students out of further education completely.
Sally Hunt, UCU general secretary said: “Education is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet when it comes to helping people climb the social ladder, yet since this government took power it has made it much harder for people to have a second chance.”
The unions say they will continue to oppose the cuts and will take action to protect jobs.
