Question 1

What is supply teaching?

Accepted Answer

Supply teaching jobs come in many forms. Short term supply can be for one or more days -either arranged in advance or via a call in the morning of that day. This is a fantastic way to gain experience and see what different schools have to offer. Often, planning is in place from the teacher who is off sick or on a CPD course so other than marking responsibilities you get to enjoy the best part of teaching: helping the children learn!  Long term supply teaching can be several weeks long but has its own advantages. In exchange for job predictability, you may have more responsibilities that are in line with a permanent staff member. You might want to try a range of key stages.   When deciding what suits you best, consider how much you need to earn, whether you want full or part-time and what responsibilities you want to take on.

Question 2

Do I get a pension as a supply teacher?

Accepted Answer

Agency workers have every right to be in a company pension as long as they meet the eligibility criteria. You will be automatically enrolled in the Nest pension scheme-the UK's largest workplace pension scheme. The minimum contribution set out by the government that you and we as your employers collectively pay into your pension is 8% of your qualifying earnings. Your employee contribution is 5% of your qualifying earnings (this works out to be around 4% of your take-home pay as you get tax relief from the government every time you contribute if you are eligible). We contribute the remaining 3%. You can of course, contribute as much as you like as there are no maximum contributions but applicable taxes may be applied.    You can choose to opt out of the auto enrolment pension scheme within one month of enrolment. If you decide to opt out, any money you have contributed with us will be refunded. Deciding not to enrol means you will lose out on employer contributions and tax relief that would have gone into your pension.

Question 3

What's the process for signing up with Supply&Teach?

Accepted Answer

Once you have registered your interest with us, we will direct you to our portal where you will be able to securely complete your personal information, training and qualification details and upload the key documents we need. Then we will arrange an interview at a mutually convenient time, checking the information you have provided and what your preferences are for key stage, location and working pattern. Once all your documents have been verified, we can get you on to our books ready to take the next available job opportunity.

Question 4

Do I get paid for holidays and sickness?

Accepted Answer

You do get holiday pay. Every day that you work you will accrue annual leave entitlement which then shows up as a payment on your payslip. See our Terms of Engagement for further details.   You may be eligible for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from us in certain specific circumstances. See our Terms of Engagement for further details.  It’s worth remembering that holidays make up one quarter of the teaching year so it’s important that you put away around quarter of your earnings weekly into a savings account, so during the holidays you can draw a wage when you’re not working.

Question 5

How do I get paid and when?

Accepted Answer

At the start of our agreement, we will take your bank details and we will pay you via a BACS transfer. Your total days worked will be transferred on to a timesheet. You will receive your pay weekly on a Friday along with your payslip. This will be based on the previous week’s work.

Question 6

When will I know about a job?

Accepted Answer

That depends on what your preferences are: you can choose to only take advanced, pre-bookable roles or be on call from 7am each morning to take advantage of the job opportunities that arise that day.   We will also let you know when fixed term opportunities become available that you may be interested in.

Question 7

Do I have to work all week?

Accepted Answer

The beauty of supply teaching is that you choose the days you would like to work. So, for example, if you can only work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays that’s fine. However, if you want to work Monday through to Friday, we will endeavour to find work for that amount of time. This might be a full week at one school, two days at one and three in another or maybe even five different schools – it all depends on what is available that week.

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