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Further education employers and union leaders have agreed to recommend a two-year pay deal to address recruitment and retention problems in colleges.

Union leaders have accepted an offer of a 3 per cent pay rise for lecturers this year and next; a reduction in the salary scale from 14 to eight progression points; an increase in the top pay scale to ?30,705 by August 2004; a minimum hourly rate of ?6 by August 2005; a minimum starting salary of ?19,518; and a harmonised pay spine by August 2004.

Barry Lovejoy, national colleges officer for Natfhe, said the unions would be monitoring colleges if the deal was accepted. A Natfhe survey found that about 30 per cent of colleges had yet to fully implement the latest pay settlement.