Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2023 to Question 133599 on Supply Teachers, how much was spent on teaching staff supplied by recruitment agencies in each year since 2016.

Information on local authority maintained school expenditure is collected in Consistent Financial Reporting (CFR) returns and relates to expenditure in the financial year. Academy expenditure is collected in Academies Accounts Returns (AAR) and relates to expenditure in the academic year. This information is subsequently published on the Schools Financial Benchmarking website, and for local authority maintained schools, in the annual official statistic ‘LA and school expenditure’ which can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/la-and-school-expenditure.

Spending on supply teaching staff comprises the following categories:

1. Supply teaching staff (supply teaching staff employed directly by the school).
2. Supply teacher insurance.
3. Agency supply teaching staff (cost paid to an agency for teaching staff that have been brought in to cover teacher absence).

These costs should be offset against receipts from supply teacher insurance claims.

Information on expenditure on agency supply teaching staff only is shown in the table below. Information for academies for the academic year 2021/22 is not yet available. The figures below are presented in cash terms and not adjusted for inflation.

Expenditure (£ million) on agency teaching staff recruitment in state-funded schools in England, by year¹

Source: Academies Accounts Returns and Consistent Financial Reporting returns.

¹ Year refers to financial year for LA maintained schools and academic year for academies.

² LA maintained school expenditure line E26 “agency supply teaching staff”.

³ Academy expenditure line BNCH21606 “agency supply teaching staff”.