Recommendations & Conclusions
27 items
2
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
Accepted
The Department has no clear or coherent approach bringing together its various initiatives on teacher recruitment and retention. In 2024–25, the Department had a £700 million package, excluding pay and pensions, for recruitment and retention initiatives which the Department has allocated in a way to make as much progress as …
Government response. The government committed to detailing its whole-system strategy for teacher recruitment and retention across several upcoming policy documents, including the Schools White Paper, the 6,500 delivery plan, and the post-16 education and skills strategy.
HM Treasury
3
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
Accepted
Teacher vacancies and the challenges of retaining experienced teachers are greater for schools in deprived areas, and across some core subjects, leading to inequities in provision and career opportunities. Schools and colleges decide their own staffing model and have discretion around how they chose to use funding which may, for …
Government response. The government committed to evaluating the Targeted Retention Incentive, with reports planned for 2027 and 2028, and deciding on a longitudinal study by late 2026 to better understand variations in teacher retention.
HM Treasury
4
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
Accepted
The Department has recently increased its focus on addressing the significant teacher gaps across further education colleges, but there remains much more to do. A shortage of further education college teachers, which impacts the type and extent of skills developed, puts the achievement of the government’s missions for opportunity and …
Government response. The government committed to detailing its FE teacher recruitment and retention plans in upcoming documents and providing biannual updates on progress, starting with the next Further Education Workforce data publication.
HM Treasury
5
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
Accepted
Teachers’ working environment and conditions remain critically important to teacher retention, with workload cited as the top reason for teachers leaving, and pupil behaviour an escalating challenge. The Department does not offer payments or structured support for more experienced teachers, which means their working environment constitutes one of the main …
Government response. The government agrees and is developing a workload reduction toolkit, exploring AI/digital tools with an EdTech pilot to reduce teacher workload, and delivering a flexible working toolkit. It also outlines plans for regional support for behaviour hubs starting 2025-26 and …
HM Treasury
6
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
Accepted
The Department recognises pay as important in recruiting and retaining teachers, but is less clear on how it considers pay alongside other initiatives and how schools and colleges can afford pay rises. Pay is important in recruiting and retaining teachers. The Department’s influence on pay differs between schools and colleges, …
Government response. The government agrees and continues to assess the effectiveness and value-for-money of pay against other recruitment and retention initiatives. It details specific ongoing analyses, including existing assessments, workforce surveys, and evaluations of various programs and incentives, which it will continue …
HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Education (the Department) on increasing teacher numbers across secondary schools and further education colleges.1
Government response. The government agrees and has made progress on its commitment to recruit 6,500 teachers, citing specific pay awards, financial incentives, and £160 million investment for colleges. It will publish a detailed delivery plan outlining how this commitment will be met …
HM Treasury
7
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
Acknowledged
We asked the Department what baseline it was using to measure whether 6,500 additional teachers had been recruited. It told us it had not set a year as a baseline, but that the number of teachers would be more than before the pledge had started and that it was working …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation to set out how it plans to deliver the pledge for 6,500 additional teachers.
HM Treasury
8
Recommendation
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
Accepted
Although unable to breakdown the pledge by time or educational setting, or provide a baseline, the Department described having started delivering the pledge through, for example, the 5.5% pay award for schoolteachers in 2024–25 and an increase to the financial incentives package for schools 10 C&AG’s Report, para 2.37 11 …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and will publish a delivery plan by December 2025 setting out how it will recruit 6,500 new teachers, including baselines, milestones, and levers for both recruitment and retention.
HM Treasury
9
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
Acknowledged
In 2024–25, the Department budgeted to spend around £700 million across a range of initiatives, other than pay and pensions, designed to improve teacher recruitment and retention.20 Of this, £390 million (49%) related to financial incentives. This included training bursaries and scholarships (£233 million) and retention payments for teachers, often …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation to set out how it plans to deliver the pledge for 6,500 additional teachers.
HM Treasury
10
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
We asked the Department how confident it was that the initiatives funded through the £700 million represented the best value for money. It told us it had allocated the funding in a way to make what is described as “as much progress as possible”.23 We challenged the Department on, for …
Government response. 2.3 The department is investing in analysing and evaluating policies to understand impact, maximise value for money and ensure focus on our best evidenced levers. The department’s strategy is underpinned by a robust and expanding evidence base, including data from …
HM Treasury
11
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
In 2016, the previous Public Accounts Committee recommended that the Department should undertake a full evaluation of all its recruitment and retention initiatives to understand what works, including 18 Q 62; C&AG’s Report, para 2.38 19 Qq 22, 62 20 C&AG’s Report, para 2.2 21 Q 14; C&AG’s Report, paras …
Government response. 2.3 The department is investing in analysing and evaluating policies to understand impact, maximise value for money and ensure focus on our best evidenced levers. The department’s strategy is underpinned by a robust and expanding evidence base, including data from …
HM Treasury
12
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
We were interested to understand why the Department only has targets for those starting initial teacher training in primary and secondary schools, when this is just one of several entry routes into teaching.27 In the year to November 2023, 41% of secondary teachers entering the workforce were newly qualified teachers, …
Government response. 2.4 The department continues to review the balance between recruitment and retention measures to ensure that resources are targeted where they will have the greatest impact. In schools, this includes its current approach of setting clear, evidence-informed targets for entrants …
HM Treasury
13
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
We questioned the Department on what it was doing to better understand the competition between schools and colleges when recruiting teachers.31 The Department has identified that around 60% of workers who leave an education occupation move into another education occupation. However, until recently, departmental teams for schools and further 25 …
Government response. 3.3 The department has published some evidence of these variations in schools and works with schools and colleges to inform understanding of why the variations exist.
HM Treasury
14
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
In offering vocational training, further education colleges support the government’s missions for building skills for economic growth and spreading opportunities too all children. However, colleges struggle to compete with schools and industry to recruit the teachers required and have experienced more significant challenges than schools in getting a workforce with …
Government response. 3.2 The government recognises there are variations in school and FE recruitment and retention, including greater shortages in key STEM and technical subjects and in disadvantaged areas. 3.4 School and college leaders are responsible for employing teachers. However, it is …
HM Treasury
15
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
We asked the Department if it thought there has been less focus on recruitment in further education than there should have been given the need to increase skills across the UK economy. For example, written evidence we received from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and the Association of Colleges highlighted the …
Government response. 3.2 The government recognises there are variations in school and FE recruitment and retention, including greater shortages in key STEM and technical subjects and in disadvantaged areas. 3.4 School and college leaders are responsible for employing teachers. However, it is …
HM Treasury
16
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
The Department acknowledged that it was concerned about the position in colleges, where the vacancy rate was significantly higher than in schools, but it described having a “strong” focus on recruitment into further education.38 It explained that it had introduced various initiatives such as recently investing £400 million in the …
Government response. 3.2 The government recognises there are variations in school and FE recruitment and retention, including greater shortages in key STEM and technical subjects and in disadvantaged areas. 3.4 School and college leaders are responsible for employing teachers. However, it is …
HM Treasury
17
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
The Department has overseen further education colleges since July 2016 with further education colleges reclassified into the public sector in November 2022. Its further education workforce data collection started in 2020, and while this was able to cover 94% of colleges in 2022–23, this compares to 99.7% of schools providing …
Government response. 2.6 Strengthening the evidence base remains a key priority especially in FE where the department’s data and therefore its understanding of the workforce is less developed. The FE Workforce in England data publication plays a central role in this. The …
HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
We asked the Department what it was doing to understand why fewer people stay working in the education sector compared with other sectors – 38% of those who had worked within the education sector at some point between the ages of 17 and 29 were still doing so at age …
Government response. 5.2 The government gathers data through the longitudinal Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders study, which examines the intention to leave among the existing workforce and the experiences of those who have left the profession. 5.3 Through the Improving Education …
HM Treasury
19
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
The Department’s annual teacher survey showed that 84% of teachers who had left between its 2023 and 2024 surveys described high workload as a reason for leaving, with 75% citing stress and/or poor wellbeing. Full-time secondary school teachers in England work on average 50.3 hours per week in term time.47 …
Government response. 5.2 The government gathers data through the longitudinal Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders study, which examines the intention to leave among the existing workforce and the experiences of those who have left the profession. 5.3 Through the Improving Education …
HM Treasury
20
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
The Department does not offer experienced teachers any financial incentives to stay, such as bursaries or retention payments, or structured support, such as the Early Career Framework for those with up to two years of experience. The Department’s ability to influence teacher workload and working patterns is limited, with school …
Government response. 5.5 Working conditions are important to teachers’ experience of the profession and play a key role in recruiting and retaining teachers. There have been representations for the department to review the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document (the framework for …
HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
We challenged the Department on the extent to which poor pupil behaviour could negatively impact teachers’ mental health and wellbeing, as set out in written evidence from Education Support.56 60% of schoolteachers felt they spent too much time following up on behaviour incidents and the proportion of ex-teachers citing pupil …
Government response. 5.8 The attendance and behaviour hubs programme support senior leaders in developing good school cultures with high expectations. Regional support begins in the 2025–26 academic year, with wider rollout from January 2026. Interim findings from the department’s previous Behaviour Hubs …
HM Treasury
22
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
The Department regards pay as its strongest lever in recruiting and retaining teachers. For example, following the most recent 5.5% pay award, the Department reduced its teacher trainee targets as it expected 2,500 more teachers to stay. However, teacher pay has lagged behind others – in 2024, those working in …
Government response. 6.3 Evidence suggests that pay can be an effective lever at scale; for example, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) estimates that a 1% improvement in competitiveness of school teacher pay increases recruitment by 2% and retention by 1.5%. …
HM Treasury
23
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
The Department’s influence on teacher pay differs across schools and colleges. For secondary schools, the Department sets teacher pay ranges based on advice from a pay review body. Local-authority- maintained schools must apply these ranges, whilst academies set their own pay although many follow the Department’s guidance.64 We asked the …
Government response. 6.4 The department continues to assess the balance of interventions to provide the best value for money in addressing recruitment and retention issues, such as subject shortages, alongside other government priorities and context such as labour market trends. School teacher …
HM Treasury
24
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
We asked the Department if it has assessed whether spending on initiatives such the Early Career Framework (£131 million budget in 2024–25) provides better outcomes than simply increasing teachers’ pay. The Department did not confirm if it had undertaken this analysis but instead told us more generally that teaching quality …
Government response. 6.3 Evidence suggests that pay can be an effective lever at scale; for example, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) estimates that a 1% improvement in competitiveness of school teacher pay increases recruitment by 2% and retention by 1.5%. …
HM Treasury
25
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
Acknowledged
In 2023–24, 46% of secondary schools in England reported at least one vacant teaching position, more than double the figure of 17% in 2010–11.72 When we asked the Department how this has affected student outcomes, it told us the quality of teaching was the “single most significant factor” in schools …
Government response. The government recognizes variations in school and FE recruitment and retention and is evaluating the impact of TRI on teacher retention, with reports expected in 2027 and 2028, and will work with stakeholders to understand variances in the workforce and …
HM Treasury
26
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
Acknowledged
Those schools with higher proportions of disadvantaged pupils tend to have higher turnover rates and less experienced teachers.77 This impacts the government’s mission of breaking down the barriers to opportunity and means disadvantaged children are at risk of being locked out from particular careers.78 In 2023–24, 34% of teachers in …
Government response. The government recognizes variations in school and FE recruitment and retention and is evaluating the impact of TRI on teacher retention, with reports expected in 2027 and 2028, and will work with stakeholders to understand variances in the workforce and …
HM Treasury
27
Conclusion
38th Report - Increasing teacher number…
Acknowledged
Further education colleges have higher vacancy rates than schools, with challenges across certain subjects, particularly those that are more specialist.82 We asked the Department why further education colleges find it difficult to keep specialist teachers. The Department said it sees more recruitment challenges where there are shortages in the labour …
Government response. The government recognizes variations in FE recruitment and retention and is evaluating the impact of TRI on teacher retention, with reports expected in 2027 and 2028, and will work with stakeholders to understand variances in the workforce and inform future …
HM Treasury