Spending on supply teachers rises to £1.3 billion
Schools in England spent £1.3 billion on supply teachers in 2015-16, according to new government figures published by the government.
The figure represents a 4 per cent increase on 2014-15, when schools spent £1.24 billion, according to Department for Education figures contained in a presentation from June.
Nick Gibb, the minister for school standards, published today’s figures in response to a parliamentary question from Anna Turley, the Labour MP for Redcar.
They also show that local authority schools spend more on supply teachers as a proportion of their budget than academies.
According to his response, in 2015-16 maintained schools in England spent 3.26 per cent of their total expenditure on supply teachers, compared with 2.28 per cent in academies.
Taken together, this equates to just under £1.3 billion, or £58,699 on average, per school, although the amounts will vary widely.
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