COLLEGE chiefs look set to table a new payrise offer for support staff this week.

The West College Scotland campus in Greenock is one of the facilities which has been affected by a pay dispute. 

The Tele's sister title The Herald now reports that a revised three-year pay offer will be put to support staff.

No new offer is expected for lecturing staff represented by EIS-FELA, who have also been involved in a row over wages.

A source close to college employers said: “Recent informal talks between College Employers Scotland (CES) and support staff trade unions have made good progress.

"Employers have agreed to a revised three-year pay offer that can be put formally to the support staff trade unions this week.

"It is hoped that the support staff trade unions will then put this new offer to their members in formal ballots, and avert further industrial action.

"Pay talks with the EIS-FELA remain ongoing.”

Support staff represent roughly half of the college workforce, and jobs range from classroom support to IT staff to building management. 

Staff have been in dispute with employers since 2022, when they submitted a pay claim and joined lecturing staff in a national dispute over the terms of a pay deal and guarantees of no compulsory redundancies. 

Unions eventually voted in favour of launching industrial action and have carried out 13 days of strike action so far. 

Before this week, the most recent offer from college employers consisted of a £5,000 pay rise over three years for all staff – lecturers and support – at all pay grades.

Support staff unions GMB and Unite have already accepted this offer.

Unison has by far the largest membership of the three unions and, as such, carries three votes in negotiations compared to one each for GMB and Unite.

This breakdown means that there will be no agreed deal for support staff until Unison's roughly 2,500 members approve an offer.