Supply teachers have a vital role to play in raising and maintaining high educational standards in schools. Campaigning to secure professional entitlements for supply teachers is a key priority of the NASUWT, together with securing decent pay and working conditions for all supply teachers.

The NASUWT is committed to ensuring that all supply teachers working through an employment agency have the information they need to assist them when looking to assert their rights to equal treatment in respect of pay under the provisions of the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR).

The purpose of this checklist is to assist supply teachers in England and Wales when looking to assert the right to equal treatment in respect of pay and other basic working conditions once they have completed 12 weeks in an assignment in the same job with the same ‘hirer’, e.g. school/college.

It should be noted that this checklist should be considered in conjunction with our main advice and guidance page on the Agency Workers Regulations.

Where schools utilise supply teachers, there is an expectation that the employment agency asks your school/college for information about pay and basic working conditions when it becomes apparent that you are likely to be in the same job with the same school/college, local authority or multi-academy trust (in England) for more than 12 weeks.

It should be noted that you can accumulate the 12 weeks for the purposes of equal pay under the AWR even if you only work a few hours a week. As such, even if you are on an assignment for a couple of hours a week, this will still count as a week and you would be entitled to equal treatment after 12 calendar weeks which are calculated in this way.

In addition, the periods for accumulation of 12 weeks for the purposes of equal pay can encompass separate ‘periods’, provided the gap between each assignment is no greater than six weeks.

The ‘same role’

Whilst undertaking a period of supply teaching, you should be aware that a substantive change to the job role you are undertaking with the school/college could impact on whether or not there is a claim for equal pay under the provisions of the AWR or whether the ‘clock’ restarts when you undertake the new role.

Advice and guidance from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) (pdf) makes it clear that the work or duties which make up the whole or main part of the job must be substantively different. In essence, there has to be a genuine and real difference to the role.

As such, the Union maintains that it would not be enough for you to be asked to teach a different subject and/or age range of students, as all teaching requires your professional skills and expertise when undertaking ‘specified work’, such as planning, preparing and delivering lessons and courses to students and assessing and reporting on their development, progress and attainment.

This would include if you have been moved to a different role within a school operated by the same local authority or multi-academy trust (in England).

Equal treatment and a comparator for equal pay

When establishing the basis for equal treatment, the BEIS advice and guidance suggests that this should be a matter of ‘common sense’, based on treating you as if you had been directly hired to undertake the same job (“as if”).

When looking for a comparator in regard to a claim for equal pay after 12 weeks under the provisions of the AWR, this should be someone who is engaged in broadly similar work to yourself, such as another teacher working in the same school/college.

It should be noted that account can be taken of your skills and qualifications, as this may justify using a comparator at a higher level of pay.

As schools/colleges operate pay scales, it is highly likely that, based on your experience and expertise, you would have been employed on a higher salary point if the school/college had employed you directly. As such, it would be considered inappropriate if you were paid at the bottom of the scale used in the school/college.

Furthermore, ‘pay’ extends to a range of other basic terms and conditions relating to key elements of pay, including payment for annual leave, both the five and six weeks’ statutory minimum, as well as any additional annual leave entitlement.

In order to assist you when seeking to make a claim for equal treatment in respect of pay under the AWR, you should look to ensure you do the following:

  • Inform the employment agency of the detail of your work history, including if you have worked for the same school/college, local authority or multi-academy trust (in England) before.

  • Ensure that you fully disclose the level of pay and the point of the pay scale you were on in your most recent school, coupled with the years of experience you have, including if you have successfully applied to be paid on the Upper Pay Range (UPR).

  • Ensure that this information is communicated to the agency at or approaching 12 weeks.

In order to assess if you have been asked to undertake different roles, it would be useful if you could provide information/evidence on the following:

  • The teaching role or teaching roles that you are being asked to undertake, such as the subjects being taught and the age ranges covered, e.g. GCSE/A level.

  • A list of the expectations for the different teaching roles being undertaken, including those contained in any job descriptions available for a teacher.

  • The rate of pay at which you were paid and whether or not this varied between the different teaching roles undertaken.

  • If you worked under different line managers in different departments.

  • If you worked across different schools/colleges within the same local authority or multi-academy trust (in England).

  • If you were asked to work different hours.

  • If any change to your teaching role requires additional training and/or a specific qualification.

  • If you are aware that the local authority, school/college or multi-academy (in England) has informed you in writing of the fact that your teaching duties have substantively changed.

If you have worked at the same school/college for 12 weeks, can you provide information/evidence on the following:

  • All the dates worked and any reasons for any gaps in employment, including if you have worked at the same school/college through more than one agency over the course of the 12-week period.

  • The school/college’s pay policy, including identifying the following:

    • if the pay policy provides for pay portability;

    • that the pay policy distinguishes between the Main Pay Range (MPR) and Upper Pay Range (UPR); and

    • references to the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD)/School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions (Wales) Document (STPC(W)D), specifically distinctions between MPR and UPR teachers, as appropriate.

  • Details of the rate of pay or salary you were on when you were last in permanent employment, e.g. pay scale and annual salary, including any evidence relating to a successful threshold application, as appropriate.

  • Details of the rate of pay you are currently on when undertaking supply, including what you have been on when undertaking previous assignments.

  • Details of the rate of pay you would have received if you had been directly employed, according to the school/college’s pay policy.

  • Details of jobs advertised at the school and the pay scales that were referenced in the job adverts, e.g. MPR to UPR.

If you have worked at different schools/colleges for 12 weeks or more, but potentially for the same ‘hirer’, e.g. the same local authority, can you provide information/evidence on the following:

  • That all the schools/colleges are under the control of the same local authority or multi-academy trust (in England).

  • The dates worked and any reasons for any gaps in employment, including if you have worked across the same local authority or multi-academy trust (in England) through more than one agency over the course of the 12-week period.

  • The local authority or multi-academy trust (in England) pay policy, including identifying the following:

    • if the pay policy provides for pay portability;

    • that the pay policy distinguishes between the MPR and UPR; and

    • references to the STPCD/(STPC(W)D), specifically distinctions between MPR and UPR teachers, as appropriate

  • Details of the rate of pay or salary you were on when you were last in permanent employment, e.g. pay scale and annual salary, including any evidence relating to a successful threshold application, as appropriate.

  • Details of the rate of pay you are currently on when undertaking supply, including what you were on when undertaking previous assignments.

  • Details of the rate of pay you would have received if you had been directly employed, according to the pay policy operated by the local authority or multi-academy trusts (in England).

  • Details of jobs advertised across the local authority or multi-academy trusts (in England) and the pay scales that were referenced in the job adverts, e.g. MPR to UPR.

We have provided template letters and a template timeline on the right/below to assist you if it appears that you may be able to make a claim for equal pay under the provisions of the AWR. These should be amended to suit your specific circumstances.