Senior officials at a Black Country college have rejected claims they had no plans to resolve a long-standing pay dispute which has led to strike action.

Scott Upton, vice-principal at Sandwell College which operates campuses in Oldbury, Smethwick and West Bromwich, says management had every intention to move its teachers across to a national pay scale which would net a mid-ranking lecturer an extra £4,511 a year.

The assurance comes after some staff belonging to the University and College Union went on strike yesterday.

Mr Upton said: “We have informed the union that we are going to implement it and that’s our position at the moment. To lump us into the national pay dispute seems a bit unfair when we have made a commitment to implementing it.”

Principal Val Bailey says the changes need to be phased in gradually alongside job evaluations.

She said: “All staff are important and it is therefore fair and equitable that we should spend the next few months on job evaluation to ensure all staff are being paid appropriately for the jobs they do.”

But Maureen Henry Johnson, senior UCU branch secretary at Sandwell College, says the college’s management has repeatedly made false promises.

She said: “This (national) agreement was made in 2004 and they have still not been implemented. We had talks two years ago about phasing them in but nothing happened which led us to take the action we took.”