Getting the most out of your agency

Advice for members on how to secure the best deal when employed by an agency.

The NEU does not endorse supply agencies - the agency system drains public money from the education service while driving down pay. Given that so many educators continue to be required to obtain much of their work via agencies, the NEU offers this advice to help you secure the best deal from agency employment.

Know your worth and don’t accept work at any price

Decide what your minimum rate will be and don’t go below it easily. There is obviously a risk that the agency will look to others when work becomes available, but if you want to establish a minimum rate you will have to stick to your guns. You don’t have to accept whatever the agency initially offers to pay you.

Know the current statutory daily rates for supply teachers directly engaged by schools. Agencies are rarely willing to pay that much for teaching work – but those rates are a key point of reference.

Know how much you were being paid each day in your last regular post – keep your payslips for whenever you become entitled to additional pay under the Agency Worker Regulations.

Back up your case. Make sure the agency understands your experience and what you offer. Agencies want schools to be repeat customers – and that is prompted by schools being happy with the staff they provide.

Make the most of your qualifications and specialism. The NEU does not support subject-based pay generally, but you can expect to be paid more in some subjects, roles and settings.

Make sure you know the expectations and responsibilities attached to each placement, especially for longer term ones. If, for example, you will be expected to undertake planning, marking, recording and reporting work as well as pastoral duties not required in truly casual supply work, that increased time and responsibility should be reflected in what you are paid.

Be prepared not to work with agencies that will not pay you what you are worth – that will be better for you and others in the long run.

Choose your agency carefully

Find out which agencies are deemed to be the best and most reliable in terms or pay. Ask other people working on supply and ask your regional office to put you in touch with supply teacher officers or supply organising forum members in your area.

Don’t be afraid to talk to the agency about pay when you first establish contact with them. You are interviewing them, more than they are interviewing you.

Check whether the agency has any of the quality accreditations awarded by the trade bodies Recruitment and Employment Federation (REC) or Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo). This may not necessarily mean more pay, but it should mean better administration standards. Check whether the agency operates through the Crown Commercial Services procurement scheme in England or the Welsh Government scheme in Wales. These provide various benefits for agency workers such as limits on the application of finders’ fees and, in Wales, minimum rates of pay.

The paperwork and the contract

Make sure you are paid on PAYE. Do not accept the argument that you have to be paid via an umbrella company. Agencies may want you to sign up to an umbrella company to save it the work involved in paying you directly - but there will be extra deductions involved. Insist on PAYE through the agency’s own payroll system and insist on the same rate of pay. If the agency refuses, be willing to look elsewhere.

Ensure you get your minimum rate in writing as far as possible. The agency is required to give you a “key information document” setting out the minimum rate you can expect and a sample payslip illustrating take-home pay. (You are not obliged to work for that rate, nor is the agency precluded from offering you a higher rate.)

Make sure it is clear how much you are going to be paid when you accept each offer of a placement - every daily placement is a separate contract. Whether you deal with the agency by telephone or via a mobile app, respond on every occasion in writing (by email or text) and confirm the date, the school and the pay rate.

Ask for more pay regularly

Pay is not a one-off conversation. Return to it regularly, especially when you have just finished a successful engagement which may lead to a repeat booking.

Encourage positive feedback from your schools. If classes are behaving and learning, invite senior staff to see what is going on. Agencies value feedback from schools, but good feedback also adds leverage when you are seeking increased pay.

If you know that a school wants you, or that a school is challenging to work in, you may have a competitive advantage over the agency in terms of what you can persuade it to pay.

Ask for a higher rate when you are going to incur extra costs – for example if it is a distance to travel, suggest increasing the rate given the cost of fuel

Talk to others regularly

As advised above, talk to other supply educators. Don’t accept any arguments from the agency that pay is a confidential matter that cannot be shared.

When you are working in a school, talk to other staff and the NEU workplace rep. Make sure school leaders are aware how much agency supply staff are paid when you get the opportunity – they know what they pay the agency, but they do not always know what the agency takes and how much you get. That may change attitudes to using agencies.

Do not undercut yourself and others

Do not work for less than your minimum rate unless you really need to. If you are a teacher, do not accept cover supervisor jobs in any circumstances. The role of cover supervisor is distinctly different from the role of teacher. Roles which are genuinely cover supervision are support staff roles – and there are supply support staff who need this work. Teaching roles should not be advertised as cover supervision. If teachers accept such work, they will end up teaching, and more schools will be tempted to offer teaching work under that guise.

Make sure you get your Agency Worker Regulations rights

All supply agencies must comply with the Agency Worker Regulations 2010 (AWR)

Discuss the agency’s understanding of the AWR at an early stage. It is best to know that the agency understands and accepts the law.

Ensure you are paid the appropriate higher rates whenever you have been working for 12 weeks with the same hirer. The agency should do this automatically - take advice from the union if they do not. You do not need to pursue this with the agency right away - the time limit on claims is three months after you leave an engagement – but make sure you seek advice from the union early on.

Try for direct employment

Direct employment is likely to be better paid because you should be paid according to national pay scales and the school’s pay policy (and the agency’s cut is absent). You should also have access to the Teachers' Pension Scheme or Local Government Pension Scheme when directly employed in teaching or support staff roles.

Stay in touch with the agency

Stay in touch with your agency regularly. Make them aware when you are getting better paid work elsewhere. Try to maintain good and pro-active relations - ask what work is newly available, update them on your current placement, etc. Bear in mind that the person on the end of the telephone is a human being, however much the NEU disagrees with the agency model.

And finally…

Don’t be put off at the first time of asking. You may get turned down for more pay. Other people may be prepared to work at the offered rate. But the more members who take a stance regarding their pay, the more agencies will feel the pressure to increase the rates for all.