P-05-805 Fair Deal For Supply Teachers – Correspondence from the petitioner to the Committee, 07.01.19

Dear Mr Rowlands  

Thank you and the members of the petitions committee for your continued support for supply teachers, which after years of exploitation by agencies, gives us hope for change. As you all agreed at your last meeting, a public sector solution is the best way forward. As our petition states, we do not feel that taxpayers’ money should continue to be syphoned off by supply agencies to fund dividends for shareholders and we are pleased to see the agreement of the Committee in this.

We need to have any inequalities in pay and conditions eradicated as soon as possible to retain hard working supply teachers who have been demoralised for some considerable time.

The Cabinet Secretary for Education says “ I have not ruled out working with employers to support the introduction of a centralised model or regional supply model in the future ” in the first paragraph. We would welcome clarification of what can be put forward now we have devolved powers and on a timescale for this . The NEU have stated that a regional model is not the answer as that would allow the possibility that the Regional Consortia would then be assuming the role of an employer.  

We have some further queries which we hope can be answered by the Cabinet Secretary

Will the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body be able to include pay and conditions  for all supply teachers?

Surely this will only be for those in direct employment. How long will it take to set up, gather evidence and report back? We feel it would be beneficial to have a supply teacher representative on this group, is this something that would be possible?

What about those employed by agencies?

For agency staff we have a minimum pay rate to be written in the framework agreement for 2019-20. The tender is to go out for a maximum of 4 years.  We do not want to see the minimum rate become the maximum as this is grossly unfair to experienced supply teachers who bring years of skills and knowledge to the role.  Although  agency staff will be finally paid via STPCD in the same way as permanent teachers, albeit at the minimum rate, we also need to be able to be paid to scale with access to Teachers’ ’Pension Scheme and only a public sector solution will enable this.

Would the Cabinet Secretary consider having supply teacher representation on the Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Forum?

There was a supply representative on the Supply Working Group who would have put forward our views, but left to take up other employment and was not replaced. Again, it would be helpful to have representation on the Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Forum so that we could take part in the dialogue about our future pay and conditions.

Where is the recommendation in: “Teaching-A Valued Profession” to enable all supply teachers to have equality?

The work undertaken by the WG and the NPS currently deals with the Framework Agreement for agencies, how will this ensure we are treated and rewarded fairly?

It is only when all supply teachers are being employed directly through Local Authority payroll that we will all be able to have equality and fairness of employment. Although the Cabinet Secretary continually asserts that it is up to schools how they employ their temporary staff, many find there is no payroll system in place for this, therefore schools do not have a choice.

It is imperative that all supply teachers are able to access the Teachers’ Pension Scheme .We are all qualified teachers and those employed by agencies will be disadvantaged in later life by the inadequate government pension scheme provided by agencies. We can only get into the scheme when employed directly .

Whilst the Cabinet Secretary says Welsh Government does not employ supply teachers, Could the Petitions’ Committee request that the Cabinet Secretary write to schools to encourage them to employ supply teachers direct to expedite a fair solution?  

What steps is the Cabinet Secretary taking to ensure that every classroom is led by a qualified teacher?

We are noting that adverts are frequently asking for cover supervisors, and we fear that this is how schools and agencies will circumvent the need to have a qualified teacher in the classroom. This needs addressing as a matter of urgency as we believe that pupil outcomes will continue to be  affected negatively. A supply teacher was recently asked to work 9 hours in a creche for £60-70 for the day. Again with a public sector solution supply teachers would only be asked to work as a teacher.

In conclusion, we share the Cabinet Secretary’s vision for a well funded, highly trained workforce to give our children in Wales the best education there is. We also share her aspiration for us to be part of the Fair Work Nation and hope that a public sector solution for supply teachers can be found as a matter of urgency.

Thank you again for your attention

Kind regards

Sheila Jones