Teachers previously employed through Hays Education Personnel
The agreement between Bristol City Council and Hays Education Personnel has ended but supply teachers who previously worked through Hays may continue to do so. However, the head teacher of the school they work in must verify their CRB status with the City Council CRB team. As Hays will have carried out all the other legal checks necessary to enable them to teach, no other action is necessary.
Other Supply teachers will have two options for obtaining work.
They may approach a school direct or use an employment agency.
Working directly for a school
Teachers who are already directly employed by a school and who wish to do supply, will have had all essential checks made for their employment so need not take any further action.
Teachers who are not already employed by a school, will need to find a school which is willing to ’host’ them as a supply teacher. The school will need to complete all the same checks as it would for a new employee.
Advantages of working directly for a school
Teachers will be paid according to the current Teachers Pay & conditions document and they will automatically contribute to the teachers pension fund, unless they opt out.
Working for an Agency
There are a large number of Supply Agencies working in the Bristol area and we cannot recommend any particular one but advise teachers to choose one which has the DCSF Quality Mark. A list of these agencies can be viewed on the Teachernet site (follow the link on the right).
The agencies will carry out all the legal checks necessary for working in a school and it is the teachers responsibility to make sure they understand their employment conditions with the Agency.
Bristol City Council is not in a position to offer a service to schools for providing supply staff at short notice. The advantage of agencies is that they are equipped to do this.
Although teachers will not be able to contribute to the teachers pension fund through the agency work, if they are contributing to the fund through work direct through a school, they will be able to buy additional pension.
When applying for Employment a supply teacher will need to have:
- Have proof of identity
- Evidence of the ability to work in this country (Asylum and Immigration Act)
- A current enhanced CRB check
- Evidence of Qualified teacher status
- A teacher reference number
Be registered with the General Teaching Council - Completed a pre employment health questionnaire and be declared fit for work before starting
- Completed an application form (any gaps in the employment history will need to be accounted for)
References will be taken up and the salary will be assessed.
When all the checks are complete the school will instruct Bristol City Council payroll and the teacher will be asked to complete a method of pay form and will be given a pay reference number on the payroll system.
After a teacher has a pay reference number, they may work in any Bristol school but it will be the responsibility of the headteacher in that school to verify that they are entitled to work and have a current CRB certificate.
IMPORTANT if a teacher has NOT worked for 3 months they will need to have a new CRB check before they can recommence working.
Basis of employment
All supply teachers are engaged on a day to day basis and although there may be an expectation of a protracted employment (eg covering a long term sickness) there can be no guarantee of employment for any specific period. Payment will only be made for the actual period of employment. The Headteacher may require a supply teacher to carry out the appropriate professional duties of a teacher as set out in the Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document.
Basis of payment
Supply teachers' pay is calculated, as 1/1265 of the annual salary for each hour worked. Employment on a daily basis is limited to a maximum of 6˝ hours and teachers are advised to clarify the hours and duties for which they are required and will be paid with the individual Headteacher.
A supply teacher who is engaged for the full 6˝ hours on each of the 195 days in the school year would receive the same pay as a full time contracted teacher, although it is accepted in practice that supply teachers are not normally engaged on the 5 non teaching (in‑service) days.
Teachers who have retired and/or received redundancy payments
Redundancy
A teacher must take at least one months break in service before returning to work as a supply teacher in any school or establishment covered by the local government modification order use the Local Government Employers link and the website's search facility to find the order.
Retirement
Teachers may return to work after retirement but they must notify their employer and teacher pensions that they wish to do so as their pension may be affected. This does not apply to teachers who have taken an actuarially reduced pension or phased retirement.
When a teacher returns to work after retirement they may start to contribute to a new pension fund
Retirement on ill health grounds
If a teacher returns to teaching work their pension will be stopped immediately
For teacher pension information please refer to the teachers pensions website (follow the Teacher Pensions link to the right).
Permanent Employment
Supply teachers seeking permanent employment should follow the Vacancies link on the left.