£20 million spent of supply teachers

Figures reveal that Powys schools have spent just under £20 million on supply teachers over the last four years.

And £12.5 million of this has gone to agencies that provide supply teachers.

In June, Cllr Graham Breeze (Powys Independents – Welshpool Llanerchyddol) tabled a number of questions seeking clarity on the issue from Powys County Council’s education portfolio holder, Cllr James Gibson-Watt (Liberal Democrat – Glasbury).

Cllr Breeze has obtained figures that show schools spent £1.5 million in 2022/2023, £3.5 million in 2023/2024, £3.1 million in 2024/2025 and £3.3 million in 2025/2026 on supply teacher agencies.

Unhappy with the lack of detail provided in the initial response, Cllr Breeze asked more questions in July.

Cllr Breeze said: “The purpose was to obtain transparency and accountability regarding what appears to be a very substantial and increasing level of expenditure on supply teacher agencies, together with evidence of what action has been taken to control these costs.”

The concern he has is that this spending on supply teachers is burning a hole in school budgets.

Cllr Gibson-Watt said that the figures for agency spend had been looked at and the figures have been “revised”, with the 2022/2023 figure rising to £2.6 million, which is £1.1 million more than the figure Cllr Breeze had been provided.

Cllr Gibson-Watt also provided figures for the amounts spent by schools on “directly employed” supply staff.

They are: 2022/2023 – £1.7 million, 2023/2024 – £1.8 million, 2024/2025 – £1.8 million, 2025/2026 – £1.8 million.

This total of £7.1 million, taken with the £12.5 million spent with agencies, takes the total up to £19.6 million.

Cllr Gibson-Watt said: “Each school takes part in financial surgeries across the year, and expenditure is also scrutinised by individual governing bodies, where discussions about the level of expenditure on supply and all other aspects of the budget will take place.”

He explained that as schools returned to “business as usual” following the pandemic, the need for teachers and school leaders to attend local, regional and national network meetings and training saw the need to book cover for them return.

Cllr Gibson-Watt said: “There are a number of small schools within Powys, where there is less flexibility within working structures, so should a member of staff need to engage in professional learning or local or regional networks, they would likely need to book supply cover to enable their attendance.”

He added that there is no national benchmarking data on supply expenditure to see how Powys schools compare with other Welsh local authorities.

Cllr Gibson-Watt said: “As of October 2023, it was noted that the Education Workforce Council (EWC) register showed that the balance between the number of supply teachers registered with an agency and the number registered with local authorities has shifted significantly towards agencies, with agency registration now 81.3 per cent.”

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporting Service