Points to note for agency supply teachers
As you will be aware the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 come into force on 1 October 2011. In advance of that, and in addition to its existing guidance document on Agency Workers, the Government has produced guidance in relation to the application of the Regulations to agency supply teachers.
One of the provisions of the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 is that once an agency worker has been working on the assignment for 12 weeks, the agency worker is entitled to equal treatment in relation to basic conditions. There are events that might stop that 12 week clock from ticking or suspend the clock but being engaged on another assignment for the same hirer will not stop the clock ticking unless that second assignment is for a substantially different role.
How does this apply to schools then? In terms of agency supply teachers, one of the first issues to address for the purposes of the Regulations is who is the hirer? The hirer is the person to whom individuals are supplied to carry out work under their supervision. It is a matter of identifying the legal identity of the hirer for the purposes of the Regulations. This will vary depending on the type of school.
For independent schools, it will be the proprietor of the school who is the hirer. For Academies, again the hirer is the proprietor of the school, usually the Academy Trust. With maintained schools it is the governing body who is the hirer, for community schools it is the school’s governing body or the local authority.
Where an agency teacher moves between schools that either:
(a) have the same proprietor; or
(b) are within the same Academy trust; or
(c) have the same governing body; or
(d) are within the same local authority
then although the school may change the hirer is the same and therefore the qualifying period continues unless the role is substantially different from that on the previous assignment.
Determining pay
The Guidance also provides that in the event of a school closure e.g. school holidays, if the agency supply teacher works before the closure and also after the closure, the effect of the closure would be simply to pause the clock rather than require it to start ticking again after the closure. Again, this is assuming that the agency supply teacher does not return to a substantially different role.
Going back to the issue of equality of treatment on basic conditions, it is the nature of the job that determines the pay rather than the qualifications of the teacher. This means that if an agency teacher, qualified or not, is supplied as a teaching assistant, they would be paid as a teaching assistant would. However where an agency teacher is supplied to a local authority school and is required to carry out specified work, i.e. planning, preparing, delivering lessons etc, after the 12 week period, if that teacher is a qualified teacher, he or she would be entitled to equality with qualified teachers. However, if the agency teacher is an unqualified teacher then they would continue to be paid as an unqualified teacher even if they are carrying out the specified work.
As Independent Schools and Academies set their own terms of employment, then it is dependent on what terms and conditions these organisations apply to the same role as that being carried out by the agency supply teacher.