Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to regulate the use of supply teacher agencies by schools, including (a) measures to ensure fair pay, (b) pension access, and (c) transparency in agency fees.

Schools are responsible for recruiting supply teachers, which includes deciding whether to use supply teacher agencies.

The department, in conjunction with the Crown Commercial Service, has established the agency supply deal, which supports schools to obtain value for money when hiring agency supply teachers and other temporary school staff. The deal has established a list of preferred suppliers that schools can access, all of which will be transparent about the rates they charge.

The Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) Regulations 2014, which set out the rules for the TPS, determine that for teachers to be eligible, their employment must be with an accepted employer, usually a school. Where supply teachers are self-employed, or employed by a supply agency and their services are provided under a contract for services, it is not possible for them to participate in the TPS. This is because there is no organisation to undertake the employer role, including remitting contributions to the scheme.