Students at Bradford, Shipley and Keighley Colleges face further disruption to their studies in the New Year, as strike action is planned by college workers.

Members of NATFHE, the ATL, and UNISON, the three main unions in further education colleges, will join forces for a national strike on January 30 if negotiations with college employers on January 13 fail to resolve a long-running dispute over pay.

The unions want the employers' body, the Association of Colleges to improve its 2.3 per cent pay offer, made in July.

The unions say the dispute can be settled if college employers offer a deal which makes significant progress towards closing the gap between lecturers' pay and schoolteachers' pay.