Schools slammed for spending extra £700,000 on agency staff

Between December, 2012 and December, 2013 headteachers gave the go-ahead to spend the ‘horrendous’ sum to cover events like staff shortages and sickness.

Concerns have been raised over the ‘unsustainable’ bill amid worries that it is taking away money from children’s education.

The figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, show that agency Teaching Personnel Ltd received £143,339.25 from Dorset schools in those 12 months.

Other high-earning agencies were Bournemouth and Poole-based Bourne Teaching Ltd, which was paid £95,111 and Just Teachers Ltd which earned £53,311.

All the money comes from school’s budgets – funded by the council, Government and some other sources – and it is their individual decision to take on temporary staff, of which Dorset County Council keeps a record.

Of the huge sum, £249,725 was taken from schools’ ‘local’ bank accounts, which means the council can’t be sure to which agencies it was paid.

The biggest spending West Dorset School was Sir John Colfox in Bridport, which spent £17,130.

But the biggest spender overall was Queen Elizabeth’s School in Wimborne which splashed out more than £100,000 – the equivalent of £68.79 per pupil.

However, deputy headteacher Tim Farrer, pictured above left, said the ‘real cost’ is only equivalent to £6 per student because of the school’s ‘comprehensive insurance’.

He explained: “Queen Elizabeth’s School remains committed to providing the best education for its young people and adhering to national agreements to cover absent staff with specialist teachers. “The figure quoted on agency staff includes the school’s daily cleaning and catering costs, as well as covering absent staff during maternity leave and periods of short and long-term sickness. “The figures do not take into account the money recouped via our comprehensive insurance, so the real cost to the school is approximately £10,000 per academic year, equivalent to £6 per student.”

Margaret Morrissey of pressure group Parents Outloud said she is concerned about what schools spending out on agencies means for the quality of teaching.

She said: “Undoubtedly there will always be a need for supply teachers to cover things like sickness and maternity leave, but there needs to be some limit to what a school will spend on agency staff.

“And if they need to spend that amount, there needs to be an urgent look at why – what’s the issue and how is it going to be resolved?

“Of course, you never want a child to be left without a teacher, but there’s something seriously wrong if £700,000 needs to be spent.”

Mrs Morrissey said that schools should be looking at the packages they offer to permanent teaching staff in order to attract candidates and cut the need for agency staff.

She added that a permanent teacher for children in the primary years of education and those sitting important exams is ‘absolutely vital’.

“If you keep getting different teachers it can be very unsettling,” she said.

“Supply teachers do their very best but there is no doubt – they don’t know the child or the school the same.

“There will always be a need for agency staff, but in not to that kind of budget and not to the cost of a child’s education.”

Second on the list of highest spenders is Emmanuel CE VA Middle School, which forked out £76,133 – the equivalent of £158 per pupil.

Headteacher Jill Watson said: “Unfortunately last year we found ourselves in a situation where we had two temporary posts that we struggled to fill from January to July so as a result we used agency cover.

“Thankfully these posts have now been filled. In addition to this we also had a member of staff on long term illness.”

TOP 20 SPENDING SCHOOLS IN DORSET

Queen Elizabeth’s School ......................................................£101, 615.76

Emmanuel CE VA Middle School .................................................£76,133

Lockyers Middle School ........................................... £60,321.90

Beaucroft Special School ............................................£54,819.80

Cranborne Middle School ............................................ £44,703.49

Burton CE Primary School ................................................. £27,215

Yewstock School ............................................ £25,644.58

Wareham Middle School ............................................£25,525.90

Shaftesbury School ............................................£22,232.50

Christchurch Primary School ............................................£20,861.60

Sherborne Primary School .................................................£20,805

The Sir John Colfox School ............................................ £17,130.22 Christchurch Infant School ............................................ £16,181.90

Christchurch The Grange School ............................................£13,633.10

Gillingham Primary School .................................................£12,215

Wimborne Allenbourne Middle School......................................£11,934

Sandford St Martin School .................................................£10,274

Charmouth Primary School ..............................................£9,718.85

Durweston Primary VA School ..............................................£9,337.58

Lychett Minster School ...................................................£7,914

OTHER WEST DORSET SCHOOLS AGENCY SPEND TOTALS

Salway Ash CE VA Primary School ...................................................£3,353

Beaminster School: ...................................................£2,890

Puddletown First School: ..............................................£2,541.32

Beechcroft St Paul’s School ......................................................£992

Trinity CE VA First School ......................................................£984

Damers First School, Dorchester .................................................£938.70

St Marys School, Beaminster ......................................................£700

Robert Oxley, campaign director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “You don’t need to be the star pupil to realise spending so much on employing supply teachers is unsustainable and a waste of taxpayers’ money.
“If the council and schools aren’t keeping a proper record of temps, it’s unlikely the spending will deliver value for money. While temps are needed to cover short term emergencies, over reliance on them costs taxpayers dearly and undermines pupils’ education.”

THE Sir John Colfox School in Bridport is one of two West Dorset schools to reach the top 20 for spending on agency staff.  
Headteacher Kay Taylor, pictured above, said: “Normally we use contracted school staff and cover supervisors to take lessons during staff absence.  
“However, some of these were ill for extended periods last year so we had to use more agency staff than usual.”