Written question WQ97376
- Asked by
- Darren MillarConservative
- To be answered by
- Cabinet Secretary for Education
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 7 days
Question
Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on the National Supply Pool for Wales?
Answer
Answered by Cabinet Secretary for Education
The Welsh Government introduced a National Supply Pool for Wales in May 2023 to explore the option for schools to source and book supply staff directly and for supply teachers to be able to access School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions (Wales) Document terms and conditions and the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS). Initial roll out took place within Ynys Môn where the local authority remained the employer, managing payroll and ensuring access to the TPS. In considering how such a model could be operated across Wales, significant challenges were identified. After further work with our partners it became clear the supply pool would not deliver the intended benefits to all of Wales because of the different employment models across local authorities. On 3 April 2025, I made a Written Statement about supply teaching, including my decision to close the work on developing a National Supply Pool for Wales. Cyngor Sir Ynys Môn are being supported by Welsh Government during the transition period until June 2026.
Further work to develop a sustainable model for supply teaching, will now be taken forward as part of the Strategic Education Workforce Plan which I updated Members on by means of a Written Statement on 3 September. The details of the plan will continue to be developed with partners over the coming months.
The below table provides data on how many teachers and support staff have signed up to Teacher Booker, who have been delivering the National Supply Pool for Wales, broken down by month since its inception.
Year-Month
Sign-Ups
2023-06
109
2023-07
74
2023-08
168
2023-09
115
2023-10
243
2023-11
294
2023-12
192
2024-01
316
2024-02
282
2024-03
232
2024-04
189
2024-05
301
2024-06
113
2024-07
98
2024-08
116
2024-09
127
2024-10
107
2024-11
91
2024-12
73
2025-01
107
2025-02
75
2025-03
56
2025-04
29
2025-05
16
2025-06
12
2025-07
14
2025-08
10
2025-09
3
The Education Workforce Council collects data on the number of people who are registered as supply teachers in Wales which is published in their Education workforce statistics.
The data is for current registrations, any user who has requested to have their account deleted and records removed are not contained in this data. The figures in the table include those registering as all types of support staff, including Teaching Assistants and Cover supervisors.