Statement in the Welsh Parliament on Supply Teaching Model

Statement by the Minister for Education and Welsh Language, Jeremy Miles

I would like to start by taking this opportunity to once again thank our supply teachers for the work they do, and particularly for the essential support they provided to schools during the pandemic, which was an uncertain and unsettling time for all.

We know that supply teachers play a vital role in supporting our young people. Several independent reviews have highlighted the need for improvements to both the terms and conditions and working arrangements of supply teachers and supply teaching support staff. We have made good progress in recent years. However, it is clear to me that there is still more that should be done to ensure that supply teachers are appropriately rewarded, that all supply staff have greater choice over how they are employed, and that they're able to access the required support and professional learning opportunities to carry out their roles effectively.

Within the programme for government and the co-operation agreement, we have committed to developing a sustainable model for the employment of supply teachers with fair work at its heart. Today, I will set out how we will deliver against these commitments and introduce much-needed reforms to the education system. To ensure that all aspects of the commitment are addressed, I have indicated that a holistic approach is necessary, with the focus of reforms against three main areas, which are a new local authority employment model, further improvements to agency provision, and consideration of pay and conditions for supply teachers within the scope of statutory terms.

Headteachers and governing bodies are responsible for making decisions on how to staff their schools and which type of cover best meets their requirements. Schools are able to recruit supply staff directly, via their local authority, or via a supply agency. To address issues raised by supply teachers relating to employment via private agencies, the supply agency framework of the National Procurement Service was established in 2019, resulting in improved pay and conditions for agency staff, transparency over fees and greater agency regulation.

In order to take forward the new local authority employment model, I am pleased to announce today that we will establish a new technology booking platform that will be available to local authorities, schools and supply staff from September 2023. The model will provide an additional route for schools to engage supply staff and provide a choice to both supply teaching support staff and supply teachers over how they are employed. A procurement exercise is currently under way, with the contract due to be awarded in the spring term, and a staggered implementation to follow across local authorities from the start of the next academic year. My officials will continue to progress this work in the coming months in consultation with local authorities and appropriate stakeholders. However, as a minimum, the platform will enable supply staff to register themselves for work and enable schools to book supply teachers directly online.

Whilst much of the detail of how the platform will work in practice will depend on the successful provider and the system they have in place, supply teachers will be able to work across local authorities and be able to work via agencies should they choose to do so. This system will not employ supply teachers directly itself; it will be a user-maintained system that will be supported by all organisations that use it. So, to ensure that supply teachers can access the statutory terms, including the teachers' pension scheme, the platform must link to a public sector provider. Discussions are ongoing with the Welsh Local Government Association on arrangements to support the pay and pensions element of the platform, and I anticipate that this important element of the work will be agreed in the coming weeks.

Alongside the platform, the NPS framework will continue to be available for schools, supply staff and local authorities. I am conscious of the work that has been undertaken to make the improvements that the framework brought about. I've given full consideration to how the current arrangements can be strengthened ahead of the next agreement, which will commence from September 2023, alongside the booking platform. The new framework will include the same requirements as the current agreement. In addition, agencies will be asked to demonstrate how they can improve their professional learning offer, and to incorporate the national professional learning entitlement into their employment terms.

All employment agencies are regulated by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate. Although the framework is not statutory, as part of the new agreement the inspectorate will consider some aspects of the framework terms when inspecting framework agencies, and the findings shared with the Welsh Government. Agencies will also be required to partner with JobsAware and display their logo on payslips to promote safe and fair working practices and signpost their workers to employment guidance. These measures aim to improve compliance in those areas that are not within the Welsh Government's remit and ensure that agency workers are able to access employment guidance and support.

The final area of work is key to these reforms and will ensure that the fair work aspect of the commitments has been fully considered. Responsibility for teachers' pay and conditions was devolved in 2018, which provided the opportunity to consider whether different pay, terms and conditions could apply to the various roles and responsibilities of teachers and supply teachers within the system. As the independent Welsh pay review body makes recommendations to Welsh Ministers on teachers' pay and conditions, it has been asked to include this important aspect as part of its wider strategic review taking place this year. The report and recommendations from the IWPRB will be considered in full, and any changes introduced to the statutory terms and conditions for the academic year 2023-24.

Dirprwy Lywydd, this is a complex area that must balance the needs of all within the school system, including learners and the wider school workforce. Above all, I am mindful that any new supply employment model must deliver for supply teachers, whilst being sustainable for schools to use and not add to the workload of school staff. I hope that the work I have outlined provides reassurance to those undertaking supply roles of the commitment to change in this area. The feedback from our key stakeholders has been invaluable in understanding the scale of the reforms required, and of the need to make improvements across a range of areas to ensure that a new employment model is fit for purpose. Whilst there is still work to do, I am confident that these measures will result in a sustainable improvement across the education system as a whole.

Laura Anne Jones MS15:30:18

Minister, thank you for your statement today. It's been very clear for a long time now that there is an urgent need to change and reform the supply teaching model. More than £250 million has been paid to agencies for supply teachers by Welsh councils since 2016. Supply teaching demand, of course, was exacerbated by the pandemic, but even in 2015, local authority supply teacher costs in Wales exceeded £130 million. So, whilst we welcome any improvements to fair work and support for supply teachers that you've outlined in the statement today, this statement doesn't even touch the sides when it comes to allaying the concerns raised by the then Welsh Assembly report back in 2016 about the model, where it was made very clear that major reform is needed. And it is; it is complex and it is clear that no one size fits all.

So, Minister, what is it that you're proposing today that is so radically different to previous changes, besides, of course, a new booking system for only a proportion of the supply teachers, and asking agencies to do things that aren't statutory? And even with the new booking system that you've proposed, the same safeguarding concerns remain. There will be this local authority booking system and outside agencies still. So, the problem highlighted in 2006 will still remain. Where does the buck stop and responsibility fall—agencies or local government—as, fundamentally, Minister, nothing has changed? You still can't control those outside agencies.

And, also, Minister, supply teachers of course play a vital role, and, of course, we want to join you today in thanking them for what they do. Often, being a supply teacher is a lifestyle choice, but due to the massive differences in pay, we're now seeing a big shift of full-time teachers going over to supply teaching due to having to work less and being paid more. So, how does what you've announced today address this? Thank you.

Jeremy Miles MS15:32:19

Well, I thank the Member for the questions. I'm not sure what the Member has as a positive alternative to suggest to the matters that I outlined. If she has a practical, positive proposal to make, in this, or indeed any other area of education policy, I'm very interested in hearing it. But we exchange in these question sessions, and in debates, routinely, and I never hear a positive alternative to what the Government is bringing forward. 

I think I outlined in my statement the areas where we are working, and it is a complex area. And there are limitations, as I'm sure the Member will appreciate, on a devolved Government's ability to move freely in an area that is often constrained in the context of employment terms and conditions. She will also know that agency law itself is not devolved. And, so, there are constraints that come with that, which she may not fully appreciate in the context of her particular question. I would like us to be in a position where the devolution settlement allowed us as a Government a wider range of options. However, I think the three-pronged approach, which we've been working together with Plaid Cymru on, which I've outlined in my statement, goes to the heart of the challenges that supply teachers tell us that they face within the limitations of the devolution settlement that we have.

Crucially, the booking platform enables there to be a public sector employment option for supply teachers. That's what we certainly want to see, and I know that's what Plaid Cymru also wants to see. I'm not sure if that is what the Member wants to see as a Conservative. We are at a point today where we can outline the principles that underpin that. So, it allows teachers to be employed in schools by local authorities, and to do that in a flexible way, which supply teachers often want to have. So, it recognises that there are particular dimensions to the employment patterns of supply teachers that mean that you need a flexible way of doing this. 

My hope, my ambition—and, I think, that of Plaid Cymru as well, but perhaps Heledd Fychan may speak to this—is that we have a situation where the booking platform is the appealing alternative to working through the agency route, and that becomes the model that is then prevalent across Wales. I think that is absolutely possible in what we're planning today, what we're announcing today. I want to see a position where the mix of the three alternative approaches, or three complementary approaches, actually, that are outlined in the statement, lead us to that position where supply teachers have a better deal, the opportunity of direct employment through a public sector employer, and then access to the greater securities and better terms and conditions that that brings. 

Heledd Fychan MS15:35:23

Thank you to the Minister, and also thank you to the designated Member—thank you, both, for your work on this. I’d also like to echo the Minister’s thanks to the supply teachers, who do such important work. We’ve seen, as you mentioned, during COVID, of course, the ongoing challenges related to that, how crucial they’ve been in ensuring that children and young people continue to receive education. And, very often, they are exceptionally experienced people—many are retired and return to schools and have great experience that they can draw on, and enhance the experiences of our children and young people.

I’m very pleased that, through the co-operation agreement, we are agreed that we shouldn’t support services for private profit, and of course we’re not going that far today, but certainly, this is an important step towards that. Because, certainly, we have seen that private agencies can make great profit at the expense of fair pay and conditions, and I welcome that we’re addressing that.

We’ve already discussed how people will be made aware of this system, and how we will encourage. And my question was in terms of marketing and promotion. How will we ensure that people are aware of this development? Because, unfortunately, not everyone watches Senedd.tv, and they don’t always read every statement made—I know that that will be a huge disappointment to us all. [Laughter.] But in terms of ensuring that those who need to know will know about this system, what communication will there be in order to ensure that this new option, this new platform is available to them, rather than staying with agencies? And how will we then encourage them, in terms of supply teachers and support staff, that they can be reassured that they’re not going to miss out on work and that this system will mean that those opportunities will be available to them and they don’t lose out on work?

I note from the statement too that there are many things that remain to be worked out. You mentioned the work with the WLGA, and so on. Certainly, it’s crucial that the new platform is linked with public sector providers, in terms of terms and pensions, and so on. So, clearly, I welcome these steps, I look forward to having further information, and I also appreciate the fact that you’ve outlined a timetable for the review in looking at the pay and conditions of supply teachers. So, yes, I welcome it, but in terms of promotion and marketing, can you give us some clarity on that? Thank you.

Jeremy Miles MS15:38:06

That point is fair enough. What we’re stating here today is a milestone on this journey. Next year, we will see the advice from the new body on the framework reforms and the launch in September. We have a year, next year, when we hope to see progress happening very rapidly. And I hope that, in the context—. Once the body that implements the platform has been established, we have an opportunity then to ensure that there is a promotion campaign that will accompany that, to ensure that the interests of being on the platform are obvious. And a very important element that the Member mentioned, namely that we can give assurance that it won’t put any supply teacher at a disadvantage. What I want to see, and what you want to see as well, is that this becomes an option that is convenient for everyone to use—so, it will be attractive and efficient, and everyone understands what it does. And that’s the way, I think, that we will be able to give assurance to the teachers, but also a system that works for schools and local authorities as well. But I think that the promotional aspect is very important, and when it comes to the period of appointing the body, we will want to collaborate with you on that.