A class act

‘There has to be a better and fairer way’

It’s only fair that supply teachers should be entitled to the same pay as other qualified teachers, says Samina Randall, who has set up her own ethical agency. Emily Jenkins finds out why she is a class act.

LEICESTER-based Samina had been a primary teacher for more than 20 years when she decided to become a supply teacher in 2014 to achieve a better work/life balance

She signed up with two agencies and was surprised to find how the pay differed.

“When you become a supply teacher you don’t expect things to be different,” says Samina. “I’m a qualified teacher, I deserve to be paid the same as other qualified teachers.”

Huge cut taken by agencies

With one agency paying £120 a day and another leaving her with only £112, both were paying well below what she should expect as a full-time teacher.

But despite the fact that she was earning so much less than her employed peers, Samina soon realised that the schools themselves believed they were paying a fair rate to the agency – on average between £200 and £240 a day.

“Most schools and head teachers don’t realise the supply teachers they hire are getting so little of the fee the agencies ask for,” she says. She decided she had to change things.

Taking control

It was head teacher Kate Hayles at the Sacred Heart Catholic Voluntary Academy in Leicester, where Samina was then working, who gave her the push to act.

When Samina told her she was only being paid £120 a day, Kate said: “I’d pay a lot more for you.”

Samina says: “I told her I was thinking of starting an ethical agency, and she said: ‘What a great idea, I’m right behind you.’”

So Samina’s ethical online agency was set up, based on the principle that “there has to be a better and fairer way”.

With the local NEU branch having negotiated pay portability with all Leicester schools, teachers are paid to scale according to their experience, including on the upper pay scale.

But running an ethical agency isn’t always

Samina Randall (left) with head teacher Kate Hayles, who encouraged her to set up an ethical supply teacher agency

easy. “One head teacher came to me and said: ‘Some of the other agencies are cheaper than you.’ I replied: ‘Before you make your decision, compare like for like.’ In the end she signed with us.”

Ethical agencies like Samina’s are a huge improvement to the current system. However, the NEU is campaigning to de-privatise the system and re-establish local authority supply pools, eventually as part of a national system.

A supply network

Samina still works as a supply teacher herself and is also very active within the NEU as both a supply teacher officer and as part of the Supply Teachers’ Network.

Samina and her network colleagues have been particularly active campaigning for parity pay rights under the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR). Changes to the AWR from April 2020 mean that, after 12 cumulative weeks, all agency supply teachers will need to be paid as if directly employed, to scale and in accordance with the school’s pay policy.

The NEU has seen an increase in AWR claims, with one teacher receiving £8,000 in back pay.

Do you know a class act? If you know someone who is a class act, send their details to educate@neu. org.uk

“Over time, more and more people seem to see supply teaching as cheap labour and this not only has a financial impact on those doing it, but also their mental wellbeing,” Samina says.

“Supply teacher contracts often stipulate that you are not allowed to discuss pay, which means there is no way to find out what you or other supply teachers are earning, or even how much the school is paying.”

To those arguing that supply teachers should get less as they don’t have the same workload as employed teachers, Samina is unequivocal: “If they want the person arriving at their school to be a qualified teacher, then they should pay them like a qualified teacher. A qualified teacher comes with skills and experience.

“You look at other professions where companies contract out, and the person doing the same job gets twice or three times as much to take into account the fact that they don’t have job security or a workplace pension, and they don’t get paid when they’re sick.

“Supply teachers don’t have any of these things either. The very least they deserve is parity pay.”