Cash-strapped councils across Wales are spending tens of millions of pounds on agency supply staff in schools. Local authorities forked out more than £78m on agency staff in the 2023-24 school year at the same time as schools warned they were struggling to balance their books. The vast bill, described as "a shocking waste of money" by one teaching union, comes at the same time as a teacher recruitment crisis and redundancies with schools struggling to balance their books.

The figures were revealed in response to a Freedom of Information request from the Welsh Conservatives. The £78,607,409 bill was racked up by 16 out of Wales' 22 councils for agency staff for supply teachers and teaching assistants during 2023/24.

Cardiff, Wales's largest education authority and council alone spent more than £20m on agency staff in 2023-24. Of the 22 councils, 16 responded to Freedom of Information requests, while six either failed to respond or said that they did not collect this data, the Welsh Conservatives said. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here

The party argues that the millions spent on supply teaching would be better invested in retaining and recruiting quality teachers for the long term, rather than relying on "the short-term fix of turning to supply agencies".

Welsh Conservative shadow cabinet secretary for education, Natasha Asghar MS, said: “The staggering costs incurred by councils across Wales on agency staff makes it difficult to see any value for money from the taxpayers’ perspective. There are currently over 40 supply teaching companies in Wales, which shows the profitability of the industry and is a symptom of the perpetual failure by Labour to fill staff vacancies and improve retention in our schools. Rather than wasting millions of taxpayers’ money on agency staff to fill gaps they’ve failed to address, the Labour Welsh Government must urgently deliver a comprehensive recruitment and retention plan.”

Neil butler, Nasuwt national official for Wales, said: "This is a shocking waste of money that should be going to support schools dealing with the learner behaviour crisis by getting more teachers into schools. This news comes close behind the Welsh Government statement admitting that they have failed to set up a national supply pool which was one of the commitments of the co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru.

"It is just plain wrong that money meant for the education of the children of Wales should go into the pockets of supply agencies which are private companies turning a handsome profit on the back of the Welsh education service. Nasuwt Cymru would like to see a return to local authority supply pools. Reliance on the profit making private companies has led to this unjustifiable waste of public money."

However much is being spent by councils, the supply of agency cover is in any case struggling to keep up with demand, a Senedd Committee has heard. The Senedd’s Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee was told late last year that schools were sometimes forced to employ unqualified staff to provide cover. The committee said it was also "frustrated that the national supply pool for Wales has not yet been introduced nationwide." Committee chair, Mark Isherwood MS, said: “The committee would like to see the long discussed ‘national supply pool’ made a reality nationwide and all supply teachers having access to the enhanced pay, pension and training provision of their colleagues.”

But that is not going to happen. Earlier this month the Welsh Government announced it would not roll out a national supply staff network pool for Wales - an online booking platform for schools to find teachers. A trial on Anglesey showed it worked well there, but would not work nationally, education minister Lynne Neagle said.

A supply agency framework (not a national pool) was launched in 2023 with 39 agencies signing up to the strengthened terms and conditions. But while councils and schools are encouraged to source supply staff via the framework, they are not obliged to.

Laura Doel, national secretary at school leaders’ union, NAHT Cymru, said there would always be a need for schools to use supply teachers so the cost was "shocking but not surprising". She added: "Although many schools are struggling to make budgets add up, they cannot magic the permanent teachers they need out of thin air and must still ensure they can deliver the learning pupils deserve - including in the event of short-term absences.

“While it is right supply teachers are fairly paid, no private company should be making excessive profits off the back of this situation, and affordability should be a key consideration as the Welsh Government continues work to develop a sustainable new supply teaching model after its recent pilot failed to get off the ground."

Claire Armitstead, director of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) Cymru, agreed the money spent on agency staff reflected the difficulty schools had in recruiting teachers. She said teaching must be made more attractive to graduates, by ensuring pay was comparable to similar professions and reducing workload. Nicola Fitzpatrick, acting Wales Secretary for the National Education Union (NEU) Cymru, wants all supply teachers, not just those directly employed by schools, paid in accordance with the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions (Wales) Document.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We are working to develop a sustainable model for supply teaching as part of the Strategic Education Workforce Plan. Local authorities are responsible for sourcing teaching staff, including supply teachers.”

Agency Staff Spend

Caerphilly County Borough Council – £16.4m

Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council – £7.1m

Torfaen County Borough Council – £4m

Pembrokeshire County Council – £1.8m

Cardiff Council - £20.3m

Swansea Council – Information not held.

Bridgend County Borough Council - £4.7m

Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council - £3.4m

Carmarthenshire County Council - Information not held.

Ceredigion County Council - £1.8m

Conwy County Borough Council - Supply teacher spend by primary schools: £814,914 Supply teacher spend by Ysgol Gogarth: £9,145 - Total £824,059

Denbighshire County Council - £330,000

Flintshire County Council - £3,161,338 central authority staff /pupil referral units £65,850

Gwynedd Council - £3.3m

Isle of Anglesey County Council - £2.9m

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council - Information not held.

Monmouthshire County Council - £3.8m.

Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council - £2.7m

Newport City Council - Information not held.

Powys County Council - £1.4m

Vale of Glamorgan Council - Information not held.

Wrexham County Borough Council – Awaiting Response.

Total = £78,607,409