University and College Union: TUC calls on government to abolish tuition fees

• Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to address Congress tomorrow

Trades Union Congress (TUC) will lobby the government to abolish student fees and publicly fund the sector, announced the University and College Union (UCU) today (Monday).

The call for a new funding model comes after delegates at TUC's annual congress in Brighton unanimously voted for the motion yesterday. It also commits TUC to demand pay parity between further education and schoolteachers; to campaign for a fully funded national education service; and to produce, by next year's Congress, a TUC report outlining a bold, progressive vision for the service, free at the point of use from cradle to grave.

The motion, For national renewal: a national education service, was proposed by UCU president Maria Chondrogianni. Speaking to the motion, Maria declared: “Post-16 education is facing an unprecedented crisis...one in two universities are making job and course cuts..[and] further education staff are paid thousands less than schoolteachers…UCU members have taken strike action and fought back against job and course cuts but we now need a UK wide approach to address the problems of the sector.”

She finished with a rallying cry: “We need to remove the market from education…It is time to build an education service for the many, not the few...free at the point of use from the cradle to the grave.”

Backing the motion, UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: ‘The labour movement is now united in our call for an end to tuition fees and a publicly funded education higher education system. The Labour Party must heed the TUC's demand and fix the broken funding model.'

The text of the motion, which was merged into Composite 09:

Congress notes:

i. across the UK, post-16 education faces an unprecedented crisis

ii. one in two universities are making job and course cuts and up to 15,000 job losses are predicted in 2025

iii. pay for further education (FE) workers remains significantly below that of schoolteachers, creating severe recruitment and retention issues

iv. young people and adult learners are being denied access to high-quality, inclusive education vital for social mobility, regional development, and a fair transition to a green economy

v. marketisation has undermined the democratic and public essence of higher education (HE), elevating financial imperatives over educational ones.

Congress believes:

a. education is a quintessential public good.

b. post-16 education has a key role in tackling inequality, mitigating climate change, and rebuilding our communities, and is essential to national renewal

c. it must be properly publicly funded, accessible, and democratically governed

d. trade unions are vital in defending the rights of post-16 education workers and learners.

Congress resolves to:

1. campaign for a fully funded national education service ensuring decent pay, secure employment, and professional autonomy

2. lobby the government to reverse HE funding cuts, abolish student fees, and introduce a new system underpinned by public funding and equitable distribution of students between institutions

3. demand pay parity between FE and schoolteachers, backing coordinated industrial action where needed

4. support joint campaigns resisting cuts, closures, and mergers

5. produce, by next year's Congress, a TUC report outlining a bold, progressive vision for a national education service, free at the point of use from cradle to grave.