Transfer/finder’s fees are applied by supply agencies when a school seeks to offer a supply teacher a substantive post. Typically, the school pays the agency a percentage of the salary that the supply teacher would have earned had they continued to be employed as an agency worker. Transfer/finder’s fees can be in excess of £10,000.

The NASUWT wants to highlight the use of extortionate and inappropriate finder’s fees in education and how they are restricting or even removing the right to work for many agency workers, especially for women, Black and minority ethnic (Black) and disabled workers who are disproportionately represented as agency workers.

The NASUWT wants to shine a light on this practice and the way in which it denies supply teachers access to permanent work.

The NASUWT is therefore asking you to show your solidarity by sending a letter to your MP. We have drafted a template letter for you to use, which you can send via the Union's Contact Your MP service below.

Contact Your MP
Enter your postcode:



Some starter text

<<ANYTHING IN CAPITALS IS OPTIONAL TEXT THAT YOU CAN REPLACE/AMEND AS YOU WISH>>

I currently work as a supply teacher in <<ADD THE NAME OF YOUR COUNTY/CONSTITUENCY>>.

I have suffered over the last <<ADD NUMBER OF YEARS>> from the rise in the use of supply agencies and the lack of regulation of these bodies to ensure they act responsibly.

I wish to express my concerns over the rise in the use of supply agencies for the employment of supply teachers in <<ADD THE NAME OF YOUR LOCAL AUTHORITY>>.

Many of these agencies seek to impose finder's fees which restrict my right to work and may lead to me being denied the opportunity of permanent employment in a school.

Transfer/finder’s fees can be in excess of £10,000. Even when schools want to employ a supply teacher, like myself, they are unable to because the cost is just too prohibitive. This is damaging for me and other supply teachers and it is costly and wasteful for schools.

According to an NASUWT Supply Teacher Survey, one in six supply teachers (15%) said that they had been denied access to permanent employment as a result of the imposition of a finders’ fee.

<<I AM A

  • YOUNG SUPPLY TEACHER ALREADY STRUGGLING TO COPE WITH STUDENT DEBT
  • A SUPPLY TEACHER WITH A FAMILY TO SUPPORT
  • A SUPPLY TEACHER FACING UNCERTAINTY AND EXPLOITATION
  • OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES>>

Supply teaching is a highly demanding, highly challenging and highly rewarding job, as we have a vital role in educating the future citizens of the country. Supply teachers deserve equal rights at work and to be guaranteed the same right to find permanent employment as all other teachers.

Please confirm that you support and will press for the end of finder’s fees as a barrier to permanent employment for supply teachers in England and Wales.

<<ENSURE YOUR NAME AND POSTCODE IS INCLUDED>>