Teachers: Labour Turnover

(asked on 20th July 2026) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of regional differences in the recruitment and retention of teachers across England.


Answered by
Baroness Smith of Malvern Portrait
Baroness Smith of Malvern
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 5th August 2026

The department has now achieved 71.6% of the 6,500 additional teachers target. There are 4,654 more teachers - 3,008 more teachers in secondary and special schools in 2025/26 and 1,646 more teachers in further education, than in 2024/25. Latest data also reported one of the lowest leaver rates on record of 8.5% and a record 17,740 teachers returning to the classroom.

While the department does not routinely publish recruitment and retention rates at a regional level, trends in the full-time equivalent teacher workforce suggest that regions have broadly followed the national pattern over time.

Information on the school workforce in England, including teacher recruitment and retention, is published annually in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical release, available on GOV.UK.

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