QUESTIONS have been asked in the Senedd around pay and conditions for supply teachers in Wales after a Gwent woman raised concerns around the issue.

Last week the Argus reported supply teacher Angela Sandles of Undy had raised concerns around working conditions and pay.

The 58-year-old, who worked in primary schools in Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly and Cardiff for about 13 years until leaving to become a supply teacher in 2011, said practices within employment agencies providing supply teachers meant many were being left severely out of pocket, with some forced to take second jobs such as pizza delivery.

And leader of the Assembly’s Ukip group Neil Hamilton raised the issue in the Senedd on Tuesday, October 17.

Addressing first minister Carwyn Jones the former Conservative MP said: “Schools come under the responsibility of local authorities and, of course, the Welsh Government is responsible for funding those schools and has great persuasive authority, even if it doesn’t have the legal authority.

“Amongst other deficiencies of the current situation for lots of agency teachers is they’ve got no access to the teachers’ pension scheme and, often, their holiday pay arrangements mean that part of the wages that they’re paid for doing their job are held back to them to be handed back during the holidays as though that were holiday pay on top of their normal pay, which is quite wrong.

“The effect has been that for public sector workers in general, who have had a pay cap for the last 10 years, supply teachers have done a good deal worse and many of them have had a pay cut in effect of up to 40 per cent in the last 15 years.

“Also, many of these supply contracts have a clause in them, which you have to accept or else you don’t get the job, saying ‘I accept that I will not be paid according to agency worker regulations’.

“Is the Welsh Government going to do something specific about these abuses?”

Although control over teachers’ pay and conditions is currently held by Westminster, this will be devolved from next April.

Mr Jones replied: “Schools are responsible for employing their supply teachers and, of course, if schools wish to employ supply teachers in a different way, rather than going through agencies, then that will be open to them.

“But with this being devolved in the very near future this now gives us the opportunity to deal with these issues."

He added a working group had been set up ahead of the devolution of powers.

Mrs Sandles told the Argus that when she left full-time teaching she was earning £38,000 a year, or £195 a day. But she said agencies employing supply teachers retain about a third of the amount they are paid by schools, leaving staff themselves severely out of pocket, with some left on as little £85 a day.

She and other members of the profession will be lobbying outside the Senedd under the banner of Fair Deal for Supply Teachers, between midday and 2pm on Wednesday, October 25.