‘Stop teaching supply agencies exploiting struggling schools’
TEACHING SUPPLY agencies must be stopped from exploiting struggling schools, unions have warned, in the wake of findings over staff sickness rates.
More than two million days were lost to teacher sickness in the last academic year, official figures show, at a rate of 51,000 days a week over the school year. Now the National Education Union has called on Government to do more to stop supply agencies charging large fees to schools, at an estimated cost up to £75m a year.
“Supply agencies cream off millions of pounds every year from schools, charging them substantial fees while paying supply teachers appallingly,” said Andrew Morris, assistant general secretary. “The DfE is actively supporting agencies when it could be adopting a Northern Ireland model, where a Government-backed
scheme puts schools and supply teachers in direct contact, saving schools money and paying teachers more.”
Across Yorkshire, analysis reveals, thousands of teaching days are lost to staff sickness. In Leeds, teachers miss more than 500 days a week due to illness, alongside 700 days a week lost in both Bradford and Kirklees. If schools covered every sick day with a supply teacher, on the average daily rate of £124, these three areas alone would be paying £9.4m a year.
Last year, Education Secretary Damian Hinds launched a website to link schools with supply teachers, saying: “Every pound that’s spent on excessive agency fees, or on advertising jobs, is a pound that I want to help schools spend on what really matters.”
A DfE spokeswoman said: “We have launched a national deal to support schools with getting value for money when hiring agency supply teachers and other temporary staff. The deal includes a list of preferred suppliers who are open about the rates they charge, and also help schools to avoid finder’s fees.”