Make Furlough Mandatory For Supply Staff in the Education Sector

Since the announcement on Monday 4th January of the new Lockdown, most supply staff in the Education sector have been without work. For most supply staff in the Education sector, their only hope for a substitute income is the Flexible Furlough Scheme. However, due to the private supply agencies having to pay the Employers National Insurance and Pension contributions, many agencies have refused to furlough their supply staff.

Last year, on the original Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, even though 100% of supply staff qualified to be furloughed, only around 40% were: leaving 60% without an income and applying for benefits such as Universal Credit. The scheme is voluntary: the agency is not compelled to furlough and thus the majority do not and are not fulfilling their duty of care to their supply staff.

The government of the UK has invested millions of pounds in training up teachers who are now supply staff in the Education sector. There is an on-going recruitment and retention crisis in education, with new teachers staying on average less than 5 years in the teaching profession. Many of these supply staff are experienced teachers who are not being supported by their agencies and are leaving the profession.

This petition is asking for two actions:

1) For the Employers National Insurance and Pension contributions to be paid by the Government (as in the original Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme), so that agencies are more likely to furlough.

2) Make furlough, for supply agencies and umbrella payroll companies in the Education sector, mandatory and not a voluntary scheme, so that 100% of supply staff in the sector are furloughed.