In a survey of more than 3,000 support staff members of the National Education Union working in state schools and academies in England and Wales, we heard about their current working conditions, the demands on their time beyond contracted hours, and the impact of staff losses at their school or setting.
We found:
72 per cent of support staff work in excess of their contracted hours. Just one in seven (14.5 per cent) are paid for those extra hours.
- For those who work extra hours, 74 per cent told us that their workload demands it. 30 per cent put it down to a reduction in staffing at their place of work.
- 75.5 per cent of respondents told us their workload had increased in the past year. In the same period, 57 per cent reported that support staff numbers at their school had reduced.
- Of those who work as cover supervisors, 73 per cent told us they are forced to engage in specified work – beyond their contract – and 75 per cent consider it to be effectively the work of a supply teacher.
The National Education Union opposes the exploitation of support staff, including cover supervisors, in being made to do the work of a teacher. This is education on the cheap and is a clear consequence of workload pressures and staffing cuts within schools. We are calling on Government not only to fund schools and colleges properly, but to deliver change for support staff.
Contracted Hours
Full time contractual hours are 37 for outside London and 36 in London. One third of respondents (31.5 per cent) told us they worked full time, two fifths (43 per cent) are contracted for 30 hours or more, 19 per cent work 20 hours or more, while the remaining 7 per cent work fewer than 20 hours per week as support staff at their school or setting.
We asked support staff members if they exceed their start and end times in the day.
| Do you: | |
| Start work before your contracted start time | 42% |
| Leave work after your contracted end time | 26% |
| I generally work within my contracted hours | 32% |
The question revealed that just one third (32 per cent) complete their work within contracted hours. One told us, “Sometimes I give my time at both ends of the day because there is not time during the day to do everything.”
We then asked how many extra hours are ‘regularly’ worked each week:
| Do you regularly work extra hours over your contracted hours? If so, how many per week? | |
| None | 28% |
| 1-3 hours | 51% |
| 4-6 hours | 15.5% |
| 7-10 hours | 4% |
| 11 hours and over | 1.5% |
Almost three-quarters of respondents (72 per cent) said they regularly work extra hours, with the scale typically being between 1-3 hours per week. This split is broadly consistent with survey results going back to 2020, although the numbers working 11 hours or more has reduced from 4 per cent immediately before lockdown.
In this year’s survey, a clear majority of members told us they are not paid for extra hours (69 per cent). A further one in six (16.5 per cent) are only ‘sometimes’ paid for this work. Just 14.5 per cent say they are paid for extra hours worked. One told us they are compensated with an extra 11 days holiday, “but give school 400 hours extra a year.”
Again, this is broadly consistent with annual surveys of support staff members of the NEU going back to 2020. The proportion who are not paid has increased, with 62.5 per cent of respondents five years ago saying they were not recompensed.
The reasons for working extra hours centre around the demands of the role and a reduction in staff. For the following question respondents could select more than one answer.
| If you work extra hours is it because: | |
| Your school demands that you do | 5.5% |
| Your workload demands it | 74% |
| You take on extra work because you want to | 21% |
| There has been a reduction in teacher numbers | 5.5% |
| There has been a reduction in support staff numbers | 30% |
One third (30%) told us that the reductions in support staff numbers at their school were a cause of increased and generally unpaid working hours. Three quarters (74 per cent) say the extra working hours are a necessity in order to keep on top of their workload. In both cases, the proportions are very similar to previous years, going back to when we first asked the question in 2023.
One member described the dilemma into which they are regularly put: “If I don't prepare adequately then the students miss out. I'm given no time to prepare so I do it in my own time.” Another told us “I am currently doing the full time job of one other and the part time job of a second person as well as my own duties.”
The intrusion of work into designated breaks is also a factor. Just under a third of respondents (30 per cent) told us they either ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ get a full lunch break. 60 per cent typically get 21-30 minutes only. 82 per cent told us they are not paid for their lunch break, which they frequently have to work through anyway. This has been a longstanding issue, with the proportion fluctuating only slightly year on year (80-83 per cent).
Manageable Workload
When asked if their workload is manageable within current contractual hours, respondents told us:
| Is your workload manageable within your current contractual hours? | |
| Always | 5.5% |
| Most of the time | 42% |
| Some of the time | 36% |
| Never | 16.5% |
It is clear that workload is an issue for a significant number of support staff, with a combined 42.5 per cent saying it is unmanageable ‘some’ or all of the time. One in six (16.5 per cent) told us it is completely unmanageable, a very slight improvement on figures from five years ago (17 per cent).
One support staff member told us, “We often have to sacrifice our lesson support time in order to fulfil other duties, mainly to cover sickness absence and unreplaced staff.” Another described the “significant number” of SEND children in their school, who they support one-to-one alongside their general duties and teaching support: “I am the only TA in my class.”
A large majority (75.5 per cent) agree with the view that their workload has increased in the past year. For almost two in five (38 per cent) they feel this strongly. Very few (4 per cent) disagreed with the statement. Attitudes are more pronounced than five years ago:
| Do you feel your workload has increased in the last 12 months? | 2025 | 2020 |
| Strongly agree | 38% | 33% |
| Agree | 37.5% | 38% |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 20% | 24% |
| Disagree | 3% | 4% |
| Strongly disagree | 1% | 1% |
Staffing changes are clearly a factor for respondents affected by workload pressures. We asked them whether they had observed a change to numbers of support staff at their school in the past twelve months.
| Has the number of support staff in your school changed over the past year? | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
| Increased | 14% | 15% | 16% |
| Decreased | 57% | 54% | 51% |
| Stayed the same | 21% | 21% | 20% |
| Don’t know | 8% | 10% | 12% |
The majority of support staff responding to our survey (57 per cent) confirmed that their peers had departed but had not been replaced. Only 14 per cent had witnessed an increase in their school or setting. Past years demonstrate a clear downward trend.
Some described “high turnover” of staff, and “drastic” reductions. One said their numbers would be “decreasing again from September 2025” and another that they were about to be made redundant. Another told us, “I started with 18 TAs, now 7. We are always one team member down on the pastoral side.”
Cover Supervisors
Just over a third of respondents (38% per cent) told us they work as a cover supervisor. This entails providing an adult presence in the classroom in the absence of a teacher and should not mean the delivery of lessons.
However, this is not true in practice. Schools are frequently found to be using cover supervisors as teachers on the cheap, using their services at a fraction of the cost and beyond the boundaries of their contract.
Of those taking part in the survey who work as cover supervisors – a sample of more than 1,000 – some 73 per cent told us it has not been possible “to supervise the class without engaging in specified work i.e. teaching lessons.” One reported to us they “plan and deliver each and every lesson five days a week.” Others are handed lesson plans and PowerPoints when the teacher is off work.
In a similar binary question, 75 per cent of cover supervisor respondents told us they consider this work, when acting as cover supervisor, ‘to be identical to that done by supply teachers.’ This has been a consistent view, year on year, since those questions were first asked in 2020.
Commenting on the findings, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“Support staff working conditions continue to deteriorate due to the inadequate funding for the sector. These are some of the lowest-paid workers in schools, yet workload demands and responsibilities increase. Many are taking on work beyond their job description and for no money.
“Term-time only contracts mean many support staff workers must take on second jobs to survive. This is not sustainable. Support staff workers are crucial to the education of our children and young people.
“The National Education Union will continue to champion support staff, to ensure they receive the recognition and pay they deserve. The government, for their part, must prioritise proper funding for schools so that the pressures on staff are alleviated after 14 years of neglect. Austerity is ended in deeds, not words.”
Editor’s Note
The National Education Union’s annual survey of support staff members in England and Wales was conducted online through membership and received 3,095 responses between 4 - 31 March 2025.