Supply Teachersí Anger at Not Being Paid To Scale

Supply teachers placed via commercial teacher recruitment agencies are typically not paid to nationally agreed rates according to a survey commissioned by Eteach, the UKís number one education recruitment website.

The survey revealed that 70% of supply teachers in Surrey were ìoutragedî that rates paid to supply teachers by high street recruitment agencies are generally a lot less than nationally agreed pay scales.

Many of those interviewed have refused to work via agencies because of poor remuneration and prefer to contract directly with LEAs who pay the agreed rates.

A teacher working through an agency may receive as little as 85 per day whereas the pay for teachers working to agreed national rates starts from 95. All the teachers interviewed work directly for Surrey LEA and enjoy nationally agreed rates of pay which take into account their experience and qualifications.

ìI canít see why in the world any supply teachers trained in the UK would seek work through an agency,î said Jeremy Stewart, Mathematics and ICT teacher based in Camberley and working via Surreyschools.com. ëThe low level of pay from many agencies is demotivating and insulting to teachers who have trained here and who are committed long term to the UK school system.í

Paul Howells, CEO of Eteach.com comments, ìTypically agencies seek to achieve margins of 40% on top of a supply teacherís daily wage and this has contributed to the erosion of teachersí pay.î
ìAgency charges can vary widely. For example, an agency might pay a teacher 90 per day yet charge the school 180 per day. Schools may be total unaware of the mark-up that agencies are charging.î

Many LEAs are taking advantage of the economies of using the Internet and job board technology to manage their own pools of supply teachers ñ they are reducing their reliance on recruitment agencies and have more funds available to pay agreed rates.

Eteachís leading-edge online recruitment technology and teams of support staff are already assisting over 50 LEAs to manage their own teacher recruitment needs. According to Paul Howells: ìour technology enables supply teachers to manage their diaries online, so that schools can see when they are available in real-time. This means we can provide schools with a more efficient way to book supply teachers, saving them money and offering a better service.î

Supply teachers use dedicated websites like www.surreyschools.com, which operates on an Eteach platform. Launched in September 2003, the service has been used to book 4,000 teacher days for Surrey schools. Teachers across Surrey can also use the service to look for permanent jobs and schools can use it to advertise permanent vacancies.