Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the comparative levels of loss of experienced upper pay range teachers in academy and local authority-controlled schools; and what assessment they have made of the (1) extent, and (2) impact, of the use of settlement agreements and confidentiality clauses when such teachers leave employment.

The department does not collect or publish teacher leaving rates broken down by teacher pay band. We publish the number and rate of qualified teachers who join and leave the state-funded sector each year in the ‘School workforce in England’ publication. The latest data was published 5 June 2025 and is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england. In 2023/24, 40,813 fulltime equivalent (FTE) qualified teachers left the state-funded sector, compared with 42,554 in 2022/23. This equates to 9% of all qualified teachers, one of lowest leaver rates outside the pandemic years.

The department is not the employer of school staff and does not collect data on the use of settlement agreements or confidentiality clauses by academy trusts or local authorities.

Settlement agreements should be entirely voluntary for all involved and schools, as employers, are required to comply with all aspects of employment law. Additionally, academy trusts must also comply with the Academies Financial Handbook, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academies-financial-handbook.

Where a settlement agreement includes a confidentiality clause, existing law means such clauses cannot be used to prevent someone from making a protected disclosure such as whistleblowing. Further information about whistle blowing for employees is provided here: https://www.gov.uk/whistleblowing.