Local Authority education Supply Pools used to be widespread in England. However, this model now only provides 1% of supply teachers with work. But LA Supply Pools could be making a comeback — recently, the Supply Pool model has been praised by the NEU as providing several key benefits to schools and workers.

For two years now, Teacher Booker has been working in partnership with EducationHR Norfolk who run the Norfolk Supply Register (NSR), one of the most enduring Local Authority-run Supply Pools in England, providing the booking system they use to manage their Pool.

The NEU highlighted NSR as being an example to follow, stating it was “praised by supply members for its effectiveness”. With this in mind we thought it would be a great idea to sit down with Sarah Goodacre, policy lead at EducationHR, and seek feedback from schools and supply teachers alike, to find out exactly how the NSR works and why it’s praised by those that use the service.

Here at EducationHR (traded HR service within Norfolk County Council) we believe in supporting our schools and trusts to attract and retain the best staff to enable better outcomes for our county’s children.

We trust in the value that we provide and believe we can offer a service which aligns with our schools values and ensure that our schools have access to qualified and effective teachers, without a focus on profit.

“Offering a service from the LA enables schools and trusts in your region to secure supply teachers in a cost effective way”

By managing the service in-house, we can respond quickly to the needs of our schools and provide high quality support for both schools and supply teachers.

Schools and trusts can access a wide range of local teachers with diverse experience and specialisms. With more teachers being registered all the time, each school will be sure to find teachers that fit with their ethos, bringing the skills they need to ensure a seamless education for the children they teach. Schools can choose to use the same teachers, creating a familiar and positive learning environment, which benefits children’s education.

Schools can be safe in the knowledge that teachers have been fully compliance checked and have access to courses and e-learning provided by expert and award winning local authority teams, with extensive knowledge in safeguarding and education.

“The Teacher Booker system works intuitively and effectively to support schools in their bookings”

The Norfolk Supply Register doesn’t charge placement fees when teachers are taken onto a contract so a school can be reassured that they will not have to pay to keep great talent! With teacher shortages and recruitment challenges this can be a realistic and cost effective resolution where cover needs extend to the long term, enabling savings or investment in other areas of education.

The Norfolk Supply Register takes great pride in the work they do, wanting to make the service the best it can possibly be. Our team has years of experience working in education sector HR, as teachers and previous supply teachers themselves, so they know just what it’s like to support both schools and supply teachers with their cover needs. With access to a whole host of education and HR experts within the wider EducationHR team and Children’s Services teams, the Norfolk Supply Register is well placed to solve school resourcing issues in a sustainable and cost effective way.

I think one of the main benefits for supply teachers on the Norfolk supply register is that they’re paid to scale. They have fair pay, which is aligned with school teachers paying conditions, and the supply teacher gets all of that pay.

They get access to the Teacher Pension Scheme and are also given opportunities to continue their career development by the education related courses on offer and the e-learning around safeguarding, Prevent and online security.

This enables them to keep their continuous professional development up to date and come into the classroom ready to go with that up to date knowledge.

We also have an intuitive digital system that we use for booking supply teachers. This enables them to have their own profile that showcases their strengths and experience to the schools. They can easily manage their availability via the system too, making it a seamless and effective process for everyone involved.

Implementing the Teacher Booker software platform means we can offer a highly efficient, effective and more targeted service.

It has enabled us to refresh and modernise our offer for both schools and supply teachers. The system is built by experts in education technology, who share the same ethical values that we do.

Since September 2023 as schools and supply staff have got used to the system, success rates have risen from 70% to 88% as of March 2025.

We are confident that it provides all users with the most effective way of managing supply cover and have received great feedback from all users, from the moment it was implemented.

The hardest thing is competing with supply agencies. We realise competition is healthy and embrace the challenges it brings. We work hard to offer a service that competes at the same level and goes beyond.

As other Local Authorities found, having the resources to do this makes it challenging.

However, the new Teacher Booker system has removed some of the barriers we faced, and freed up resources to ensure the service is continuously improving to meet schools’ expectations and needs.

The time we spend arranging supply bookings has reduced since the Teacher Booker system was implemented. This is because the system works intuitively and effectively to support schools in their bookings. However, we are still on hand to undertake bookings for customers who don’t buy a subscription from us or customers who do, but appreciate the support we can offer.

We take compliance and safeguarding very seriously and spend time making sure that supply teachers who we register are thoroughly checked in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education and also running repeat checks on already-registered supply teachers.

Additionally, we ensure supply teachers are given the opportunity to undergo training to ensure they are up to date with current knowledge on safeguarding and other relevant areas.

We run system reports to understand our customers’ and supply teachers’ needs well, and can then take steps to adjust the service where it is needed.

We also spend time on promoting the service to both schools and supply teachers to maximise the service we are providing.

With a system like Teacher Booker in place, the resource requirements do not have to be unfeasible.

Feedback from all users surveyed supported the creation of similar supply banks, either by Local Authorities or Multi-Academy Trusts across the rest of the country.

Offering a service from the Local Authority enables schools and trusts in your region to secure supply teachers in a cost effective way, knowing they are supplied by an organisation who shares their values and desire to improve educational outcomes for children, not focusing their business model on profit.

We are proud of the ethical and dedicated way we run the Norfolk Supply Register, with the genuine desire to offer an effective service that supports schools to provide the best education to their pupils that they can, and enables supply teachers to seamlessly close the gap a cover need creates.

Echoing Sarah’s comments, schools surveyed highlighted the “easy to use service” describing it as “better value for money” with “more reliable supply teachers”. Since September 2023 as schools and supply staff have got used to the system, success rates have risen from 70% to 88% as of March 2025.

Additionally supply staff confirmed that they secured better rates of pay via NSR than with agencies, with the added bonus of teacher pension contributions on top. Data from the system shows that the average gross pay for supply staff working via NSR is £186, significantly more than the £130 that staff report having been offered via agencies.

Feedback from all users surveyed supported the creation of similar supply banks, either by Local Authorities or Multi-Academy Trusts across the rest of the country.

EducationHR’s experience clearly demonstrates that a well-managed, locally controlled Supply Pool can transform the delivery of temporary teaching cover. By prioritising ethical standards, efficient technology, and a commitment to professional development, Local Authorities can provide schools with a dependable, cost-effective alternative to agency models.

The improved success rates and better pay for teachers validate the effectiveness of this approach. For Councils and Multi-Academy Trusts grappling with recruitment challenges and seeking long-term, sustainable solutions, investing in an in-house supply service not only enhances operational efficiency but also reinforces a commitment to quality education that puts the needs of children and educators first.