This NUT guidance note looks at pay, conditions and working time for supply teachers, whether employed via supply teaching agencies or directly by schools, local authorities and academies.
SUPPLY TEACHERS UNDER THREAT
Supply teachers who can adapt quickly and effectively at short notice to different schools, pupils, subjects and age groups play a critical role in the effective functioning of schools. The current situation facing supply teachers - in particular the increasing dominance of agencies and consequent cuts in pay and conditions - means that that role is under threat.
A June 2015 NUT survey showed that over two thirds of supply teachers now get their supply work principally via supply agencies. This means that:
- agencies are ever-increasingly draining money from the public purse, while driving down supply teachers’ pay and conditions;
- teachers who work via agencies are increasingly employed under inappropriate ‘umbrella company' arrangements; and
- many other teachers are deterred from supply teaching or are unable to get supply work due to schools' use of unqualified staff, both of which threaten the availability of supply teachers as a whole.
The NUT's webpage for supply teacher members - includes NUT guidance on matters like the Agency Workers’ Regulations and working for umbrella companies and full details of the NUT’s ongoing campaign for a better deal for supply teachers.
SUPPLY TEACHERS EMPLOYED BY/THROUGH AGENCIES
Supply teachers employed by or through agencies are not covered by the "national pay and conditions" set out in the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) and elsewhere. Their pay is determined by the individual agency - and agency pay rates generally undercut the national pay rates for teachers in schools.
The 2015 NUT survey found that 69 per cent of respondents now find work solely or mainly via agencies, up from 50 per cent in 2010. The number of agencies now operating in England and Wales could be over 250 – and this figure may exclude many single person operations.
Agency supply teachers and pay
Agencies are free to determine their own pay levels, so wide disparities in pay rates are in operation across different agencies and different regions.
Only 10 per cent of teachers told the NUT survey that their pay was in line with the rate of pay they would be entitled to if employed directly by a school (currently £168 at the Main Pay Range maximum or £195 at the Upper Pay Range maximum, both outside London). Many of these teachers were recent entrants to teaching - very few agencies will offer experienced teachers rates of pay which match the rates they would receive if employed directly.
The NUT survey showed that:
- Half of respondents said their daily rate of pay was £100 - £124
- 22 per cent said it was between £125 and £149
- Less than 4% said that they were paid £150 (still below the MPR maximum) or above
- One in six said that they were paid less than £100.
More worryingly, pay rates now increasingly vary between placements. Pay is frequently lower for short term engagements, may vary by subject and certainly varies regionally. Unfortunately some schools have begun to contribute to this by seeking to bargain with agencies which then pass on any cuts in income to the teachers concerned.
Agency supply teachers and pensions
Employment by or through supply agencies is not pensionable under the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS), partly because supply agencies are not currently permitted to participate in the TPS. The NUT is pursuing this issue with the DfE in order to secure equal access to the TPS for all teachers working on state funded schools.
The law now requires all employers, including agencies, to offer workplace pensions. The introduction of this‘auto-enrolment’ system has been staged butmany larger agencies now havesuch schemes. In order to be eligible for auto-enrolment onto a workplace pension, agency supply teachers must be agedbetween 22 and State Pension Age, and in receipt of earnings of more than £10,000 per year. The employer must pay a minimum pension contribution of 1 per cent of “qualifying earnings”[1], rising to 3 per cent by 2018, while the employee pays a minimum of 0.8 per cent (rising to 4 per cent by 2018) and the Government pays 0.2 per cent (rising to 1 per cent by 2018).
The unpredictablenature of an agency supply teacher’s employment can cause problems. Those working for different agencies on short term assignments in particular may find their enrolment in a workplace pension is postponed for up to three months owing to concerns that their income will be insufficient to meet the earnings threshold for auto-enrolment. Agency teachers may also end up with several workplace pension ‘pots’ depending on their working patternsand the number of agencies they use.
‘Umbrella companies’
An umbrella company is a company that acts as an employer to agency workers, such as supply teachers. The teacher is employed by the umbrella company, not the agency, and the umbrella company will usually pass on to the teacher various costs such as the employer’s National Insurance contributions and the umbrella company’s fee. Many supply agencies now try to offer work only to supply teachers employed by umbrella companies.
Umbrella companies largely sell themselves on the basis that supply teachers can reduce their tax bill by claiming legitimate business expenses. The NUT has concerns about umbrella companies and about some of the claims made about the tax implications of working for them. The NUT strongly advises members to be fully informed before entering into any formal contractual relationship with such companies.Detailed NUT guidance on working for umbrella companies is available at
Rights under the Agency Worker Regulations
The Agency Worker Regulations 2010 apply to supply teachers employed by employment agencies or umbrella companies.
They give agency teachers certain rights from Day 1 of their assignment at a school - including the right to be informed of permanent vacancies with the school. After 12 weeks in the same assignment, they give agency teachers the right to the same ‘basic’ pay and conditions as if they had been employed directly by the employer (local authority, school governing body or academy trust). These ‘basic’ pay and conditions cover rates of pay, hours of work and annual leave - but not other benefits such as sick pay, pension or maternity pay.
The 12 weeks must be continuous, although a break of up to six weeks for any reason only ‘pauses’ the clock. Some other ‘breaks’ are also allowed, such as annual leave, school closures, sickness and maternity/parental leave.Where an agency supply teacher is placed in a series of schools in which the local authority is the employer, this may create continuity for the purposes of the AWR.
The teacher’s pay rate should then be assessed in the same way as for a teacher in regular service - ie according to the school’s pay policy - althoughthis does not now necessarily guarantee a particular pay rate. Detailed NUT guidance on the Agency Worker Regulations is available at
‘Guaranteed Work’ contracts
Many agencies offer supply teachers‘guaranteed work’ contracts of employment - also known as ‘permanent’ contracts, “pay between assignment” contracts or “Swedish Derogation” contracts. These claim to offer a commitment to provide regular work and to pay the supply teacher even on days when no work is available.
Entitlements to equal pay under the Agency Worker Regulations do not apply to agency supply teachers employed under such contracts, provided that the contract includes a number of specific terms. The arrangements will usually require supply teachers thus engaged to guarantee their availability at all times. The usual pay rate under such contracts is generally lower than otherwise and agencies can withdraw from such contracts if no work has been available for a certain period of time.
The NUT opposes the use of such contracts, although they are lawful and do not breach the AWR. NUT members considering such employment are strongly advised to read the terms and conditions very carefully, as penalties may apply in the event that they are unable to work on any given day, e.g. as a result of illness. Detailed NUT guidance on such contracts is available at
‘Zero hours’ contracts
Zero hours contracts are the most extreme example of precarious employment for teachers. There is no legal definition of a zero-hours contract. Their terms vary but what they have in common is that there is no guarantee of work or pay from one week to the next. They are now being encountered in the schools sector, particularly in ancillary education services.
Security of Employment
Supply teachers are generally engaged on a day-to-day basis and do not have the security of a continuing contract of employment enjoyed by their permanent colleagues.
Where a teacher on a longer term supply engagement makes a positive impression on a particular school, the school may consider offering the teacher a formal contract of employment.
Transfer or ‘finder’s’ fees
Supply agencies are permitted to charge transfer or ‘finder’s’ fees to schools who wish to take on a supply teacher as a permanent employee. Two important conditions, however are that:
- The school must be given the option in the contract with the agency to decide, at the point when it decides to offer the teacher a permanent job, either to pay the fee or to continue employing the teacher through the agency for a set period after which it will not have to pay the fee.
- Transfer fees can only be charged if the transfer takes place within the later of 14 weeks from the start of the first assignment and 8 weeks from the end of any assignment. If there has been more than one assignment with a break of more than 42 days between assignments, the later assignment is then taken as the first assignment.
Although transfer fees are often cited as a major obstacle to supply teachers gaining permanent employment, the conditions do mean that transfer fees are slightly less likely to be enforceable in the schools sector than other areas of employment.
Obtaining more information on supply teacher agencies
The growth of agencies means that many teachers can find work only through them - and consequently may face the kinds of difficulties outlined above. It is not always easy to obtain information about supply agencies before seeking work from them, a situation which has led to the development of the website enables agency supply teachers to log and share comments about agency practices.
SUPPLY TEACHERS EMPLOYED DIRECTLY BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES OR LOCAL AUTHORITY MAINTAINED SCHOOLS
Supply teachers employed directly by a local authority or school governing body (including those employed directly by or via a local authority supply pool) must be paid according to the provisions of the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD). This has generally meant that they are paid better, as well as being entitled to join the Teachers’ Pension Scheme. Recent changes to teachers' pay arrangements, however, may significantly affect such teachers.
Given the rise of supply agencies, it is unsurprising that the proportion of supply teacher members employed directly has fallen. The 2014 NUT survey found that only 8.4 per cent of supply teachers work via local authority supply “pools”, compared to 10.5 per cent in 2010, while direct employment by schools had fallen to 25 per cent from 39 per cent.
Rates of Pay
The STPCD (School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document) states that“Teachers employed on a day-to-day or other short notice basis must be paid in accordance with the provisions of this Document on a daily basis calculated on the assumption that a full working year consists of 195 days, periods of employment for less than a day being calculated pro rata”.
The abolition of "pay portability" means that teachers taking up a post at a new school are no longer entitled by law to be paid at least at the same pay rate as in their previous post. This means that supply teachers starting new assignments also have no legal entitlement to aminimum pay entitlement reflecting their experience.
Each school should, however, have a pay policy which sets out whether or not it has decided to continue to apply pay portability. If the policy provides for pay portability, then this should also apply to supply teachers unless the policy provides otherwise.
The NUT recommends an hourly rate of 1/950th of annual pay for each hour of teaching or other work, while the DFE has recommended that any hourly rate of pay should be on the basis on a day of 6.48 hours (1265/195) or the total length of the school’s pupil day (see following section).
Appendix 1 sets out the daily pay rates for each point on the usual pay scales, according to the rules set out above.
Supply teachers do not receive any pay during holiday periods. As full-time teachers work for 195 days a year, this daily pay rate of 1/195 includes an element for ‘holiday pay’.
Pay Progression
Supply teachers are entitled under the provisions of the STPCDto be considered for pay progression on the Main or Upper Pay Range each year and to apply to go through the threshold onto the Upper Pay Range.
The length of supply assignments and the fact that supply teachersare not usually covered by appraisal mean that schools’ arrangements and requirements for pay progressiondecisions obstruct supply teachers’ access to pay progression. Also, the removal of portability means that any pay progression may subsequently be lost whenever a new engagement begins, since that engagement may be offered at whatever pay point the employer wishes.
Some supply teachers will, however, be in employment where they can be assessed for pay progression - for example, when employed via an LA supply pool or on a recurring basis in the same school. In such cases there is no reason why assessments for pay progression cannot be carried out. Although supply teachers are not covered by statutory appraisal requirements, the STPCD states that the employer carrying out the pay assessment should take the pay decision on the basis of the evidence available to inform the pay decision, which could be assisted by including the teacher in some form of appraisal appropriate to the working circumstances.
Working Time for Supply Teachers
The STPCD does not specify the length of the supply teacher’s working day. In some cases, employers seek to offer supply teachers an hourly rate rather than a daily rate, even where the supply teacher has taught for the full pupil day. Do not accept an hourly rate when you should be entitled to the daily rate - it will lead to lower pay.
Other Conditions of Service Issues
Supply teachers covering for a particular absent teacher should enjoy the same rights - they should have the protection of `rarely cover provisions’, rather than being expected also to provide general cover, and have the right to PPA time.
Sick Pay and Maternity Pay
Supply teachers are not covered by the national sick pay or maternity pay provisions but may be entitled to statutory sick pay or maternity payrights incertain circumstances.
Pensions
Supply teachers employed directly by a local authority or school are, however, entitled to be part of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
Since 1 January 2007, supply teaching engagements for teachers directly employed by an authority or school have been automatically pensionable under the Teachers’ Pensions Scheme, required with the contributions made by the teachers and the employer, unless the teacher decides to opt out of the scheme.
SUPPLY TEACHERS IN ACADEMIES AND OTHER NON-MAINTAINED SCHOOLS
Supply teachers employed directly by non-maintained schools - such as academies, free schools and independent schools - are employed on the terms determined by that employer. The pay and conditions may be in accordance with national pay and conditions in many such schools, but the employer is under no obligation to do this. The teacher will however, be entitled to join the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
LONG TERM AND SHORT TERM SUPPLY - THE DIFFERENCES
Typically, supply teachers engaged on a short term basis - for a single day or only a few days - might expect to carry out supervision and teaching of classes using materials set by the absent teacher or his or her line manager. These might be marked in class, or alternatively collated for marking by the absent teacher once they have resumed teaching duties. Most supply teachers engaged on a short term basis are unlikely to be expected to carry out duties beyond this basic level of supervision and teaching, with little or no planning or assessment required or expectations to attend meetings - but the result may be that they will be paid less than a supply teacher whose work at the school is of a longer duration.