Thousands of supply teachers are having to “beg and borrow to survive” despite official guidance that schools should continue paying them even if they are not working, the government is being warned.
The Department for Education (DfE) guidance, issued last week, said schools and local authorities should pay supply teachers 80 per cent of their wages during lockdown - not just for those on live assignments when schools closed but also to those schools had “expected” to employ.
But sources say the guidance “does not go far enough” because it is only advisory and the decision on whether to continue paying supply teachers still rests with schools.
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Supply teacher Tim Holden, who has researched the rules around supply teacher pay and advised thousands of fellow teachers since March, said: “This relies on cash-strapped schools following guidance that is only advisory and paying for supply teachers they are not using, who they cancelled within a matter of hours of the announcement of the lockdown.
“Thousands of supply teachers have had no income since schools shut in December and are having to beg and borrow to survive.”
The guidance says that, where supply teachers are employed through agencies, schools should continue paying the agencies rather than agencies putting staff on furlough.
It says schools will continue to receive budgets for the coming year as usual, regardless of any periods of partial or complete closure, and that “this will ensure that they are able to continue to pay for staff”.
But Kate Shoesmith, deputy chief executive at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, a body which represents supply agencies, said: “The guidance from government…doesn’t go far enough because responsibility for deciding whether or not to pay supply staff still rests with schools.”
Britain’s largest teaching union, the NEU, said the DfE must ensure the guidance is followed by schools.
Joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said: “The NEU wants schools to follow this advice and also continue to engage supply staff to cover future sick leave and other absences.”
Last month the NASUWT teaching union warned that supply teachers faced being “thrown to the wolves” with a sudden loss of earning when schools closed.
A spokesperson said: “The NASUWT maintains that much more needs to be done by the DfE and the government to ensure that all supply teachers, many of whom have been hardest hit since the imposition of further restrictions, can access urgent financial assistance.”
The DfE says its guidance is advisory and that schools are not required to follow it because school leaders “have autonomy in these matters”.
It says its guidance gives encouragement, and details how schools may continue to pay suppliers that they feel are at financial risk “so that they remain viable”.
