Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many supply teachers are working in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in England.

Schools in England can recruit supply teachers in one of four ways, with most schools choosing to use supply agencies. The Department does not ask agencies to report on the number of supply teachers.

Information on the school workforce in England is published in the annual ‘School Workforce in England’ national statistics release at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

The census identifies those teachers who are employed via a service agreement with an agency, but not whether they are a supply teacher. Teachers in schools on census day with a contract or service agreement lasting fewer than 28 days are recorded as ‘occasional’ teachers. The number of occasional teachers in each school and Local Authority is available here: https://content.explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/api/releases/9a34fd81-bbaa-46ca-b5d5-e24c67a15d4d/files/e037a806-f8a0-46ea-58c2-08da7ec3a78e.