How much do schools spend on supply teachers?

In short

Schools across England spend approximately £1.4 billion a year on agency supply staff, according to the Department for Education. That figure covers agency staff only – directly employed supply is recorded separately, so it is not the total cost of cover.

What the £1.4 billion covers

The figure is DfE’s own approximation, published in April 2026 alongside the new procurement framework. It refers to agency supply staff across schools in England. Two things follow from that.

It is an approximation, not a precise total from a single return.
It is not total supply expenditure. Schools also employ cover staff directly, and that spending sits in a different line.

How school finance data records supply

DfE’s school expenditure collections separate supply spending into distinct categories, typically including supply teaching staff, agency supply teaching staff and supply teacher insurance. Keeping them apart matters: agency and directly employed supply behave differently and respond differently to procurement changes.

Why published totals differ. Different figures cover different populations. Maintained schools and academies report through different collections with different definitions and reporting periods. A maintained-school total and an England-wide total are not the same number, and combining them without reconciliation produces a figure that means nothing.

Comparing schools fairly

A raw cash total tells you mostly how big a school is. Two measures compare far better:

Spend per pupil, which adjusts for size.
Share of total staffing expenditure, which shows how cover sits within the wider staffing budget.

Even then, comparison only works within a sensible peer group. Special schools and alternative provision spend materially more per pupil than mainstream schools, because they run different staffing models for different pupil needs. That is a description of provision, not a judgement about efficiency.

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