Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the proportion of school supply spending that is retained by private agencies rather than paid to teachers; and what assessment she has made of the impact on school budgets.

The department does not hold data on the proportion of supply spending retained by agencies.

According to school financial returns, in the 2023/24 financial year, local authority maintained schools spent approximately £522 million on agency supply teaching staff whilst, in the 2023/24 academic year, academies spent approximately £898 million. The total school budget was £58 billion for the 2023/24 financial year.

The department’s 2024 ‘Use of supply teachers in schools’ research found that on average a secondary supply agency teacher cost a school £291 per day, whilst the daily take-home pay for a secondary supply teacher was £150. This suggests that agencies retain around 48% of the spend for secondary supply on average, which covers profit, on-costs and operational costs.

We continue to explore ways to support schools to obtain value for money when hiring supply staff.