(Title Image: Wales Online)
Petitions Committee
Petition P-05-805: “Fair Deal for Supply Teachers” (pdf)
Submitted by: Sheila Jones
Signatures: 1,425
Published: 18th March 2021
The Senedd has considered the subject of supply teachers previously.
Supply teachers who work through employment/recruitment agencies aren’t hired by a local authority like other teachers so aren’t covered by pay and conditions rules. Supply teachers also don’t have access to teachers’ pension schemes.
Other issues raised by the petitioners include the highly variable rates of pay between different agencies as well as the fees charged by agencies.
The devolution of teachers’ pay and conditions in 2018 prompted a rethink of how supply teachers are hired and paid, with the Welsh Government considering minimum pay rates and transparency in terms of fees to commercial agencies. The new contract/framework for supply teachers, introduced in 2019, was considered an improvement.
There was some support for a centralised/public sector system for pooling supply teachers, though there were concerns over whether local authorities have the resources to set that up.
The Education Minister, Kirsty Williams (Lib Dem, Brecon & Radnor), was reluctant to set up a national system (as in Northern Ireland) but wouldn’t stand in the way of regional consortia or groups of local authorities doing it themselves.
The Committee recommended the next Welsh Government keeps the new supply teacher contract under close review to determine its impacts on supply teacher pay and conditions; determine which schools are hiring supply teachers outside the contract and why and further consideration for a national or regional supply teacher pool.
