New government workload reforms for teachers could mean they rely less on supply teacher agencies.

Before the start of the new school term, the government introduced reforms to limit the number of hours’ cover that teachers can give when their colleagues are unavailable. Local authorities have been given almost £200m to hire classroom assistants to cover absences.

However, education agencies and their clients feel this is a deliberate move to cut down on schools’ use of supply teachers, which could hit agencies in the sector hard.

“They plan to replace daily supply teachers with unqualified teaching assistants,” explained Geoff Brown, education director of Dream Recruitment. “Supply teachers fear they’ll be out of work.”

“Classroom assistants can provide a form of cover, but there are times when the National Curriculum needs to be delivered and you need a qualified teacher to do that,” said Ryan Botha, who heads the education division of supply agency 1st Contact.