Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to section 7.2.12 of her Department's publication entitled School workforce census guide 2024: Guide for schools including academies within a Multi Academy Trust, published on 11 October 2024, how many and what proportion of school support staff posts in publicly-funded schools in England were paid on (a) National Joint Council (Local Government Services) pay ranges, (b) other pay ranges, and (c) pay ranges for which data was not returned in the most recent workforce census period.

Information on the school workforce is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

The attached table provides the pay ranges reported for support staff post contracts in the November 2023 school workforce census, which is the latest data available.

Support staff may have more than one contract, therefore individuals may be counted more than once.

School support staff play a vital role in children’s education and development. The department values and recognises the professionalism of the entire school workforce and will address recruitment and retention challenges by reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body.

This body will be tasked with establishing a national terms and conditions handbook, training and progression routes, ensuring that schools can recruit and retain the staff needed to deliver high quality, inclusive education.