In Wales, supply teachers are employed in a number of ways and they differ depending on local needs, language and subject requirements.
Schools may directly employ a supply teacher, employ cover supervisors as part of the staffing structure, draw from a local authority/national pool system, or use a supply agency.
The National Supply Pool for Wales
The Welsh Government has procured and implemented an online booking platform for all maintained schools and local authorities that want to employ supply staff directly.
In theory, the platform will be able to secure better pay standards than agencies since the platform is subsidised by the Welsh Government and so no fee will be drawn from the daily salary. It should also provide access to the Teachers’ Pensions Scheme when working via the platform. The platform will manage all the administrative work (DBS/EWC checks, etc.) and will be able to offer services across local authorities.
The success of this provision by the Welsh Government is dependent on the take-up by supply teachers. The platform should provide a more robust alternative to supply agency pay and conditions and it is NASUWT’s hope that it will succeed in providing first-class employment opportunities.
Supply agencies
The National Procurement Service (NPS) Framework Agreement for Agency Workers was developed to help schools recruit supply staff via a collection of endorsed supply agencies.
It was intended to ensure fair pay and conditions for agency supply teachers with baseline agreed requirements. However, many members told us that there was varied adherence to the minimum requirements in terms of pay and that many aspects were not statutory and therefore not enforced.
A new agency framework came into effect in September 2023, with 41 approved supply agencies distributed across the local authorities (pdf).
The aim of the Supply Agency Framework Agreement is to provide fairer pay and conditions for agency supply teachers, Even so, the NASUWT would encourage all supply teachers who are considering entering into employment with a commercial supply agency to read and understand the terms of any contract they sign as well as familiarise yourself with the information on these pages.
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