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Supply teachers who are in a ‘pool’ maintained by a local authority (LA), those located through the school’s own contacts, or part-timers who wish to temporarily increase their hours, are likely to be employees of the school or local authority (LA) for their period of supply work. Moreover, they will qualify for the numerous protections and benefits that arise from such status.
These include:
the right to be paid in accordance with and by reference to the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document
the right to be a member of and make contributions towards the Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS)
the right to a redundancy payment – provided s/he has two years continuous service (for further information see ATL’s publication Redundancy)
the right not to be unfairly dismissed (provided s/he has one year of continuous employment with the same employer).
Secondly, not being employees, they have no rights of equal treatment as to terms and conditions in comparison with their colleagues in the workplace, although new legislation may soon change this.
Teachers working for supply agencies do have the statutory protections set out in equal opportunities legislation: any discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability or age is unlawful.
For more information, see ATL's in-depth guide to supply teacher rights.