Supply Teachers: Coronavirus

(asked on 17th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) effect on school budgets of the cost of supply teachers as a result of staff and (b) capability of schools to meet the costs of staff absence.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 25th November 2020

Following last year’s Spending Review, core school funding is increasing by £2.6 billion in the financial year 2020-21 and will increase by £4.8 billion and £7.1 billion in 2021-22 and 2022-23 respectively, compared to 2019-20. On average, schools are attracting 4.2% more per pupil this year compared to 2019-20.

Schools have continued to receive their core funding allocations as usual, regardless of any periods of partial or complete closure due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and this has ensured they have been able to continue to pay for staff and meet their other regular financial commitments.

The Department for Education’s Guidance for schools on full opening sets out the options available for schools seeking to manage staffing capacity and absences as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. It is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools. In addition to using supply teachers and other temporary staff, schools can also consider using existing staff more flexibly, including support staff and Initial Teacher Training trainees, or volunteers, as would usually be the case.

As stated in our guidance, schools should continue to use their existing resources to manage staffing capacity. Where schools do hire agency workers, we recommend they consider using the Department’s and the Crown Commercial Service’s agency supply deal, as this offers a list of preferred suppliers that must be transparent about the rates they charge. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/deal-for-schools-hiring-supply-teachers-and-agency-workers.

The Department continue to work with stakeholders and representative bodies to understand staffing capacity and are keeping the situation under close review.

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