Supply costs treble at trust lauded by the DfE

Agency costs have ballooned in an academy trust held up by the government as a success story for its supply staff reforms, laying bare the limitations of such money-saving schemes.

The Department for Education launched its “maximising value for pupils” scheme in December to help schools optimise spending.

It included introducing a new supply teachers and education recruitment framework agreement set up by the government commercial agency (GCA).

The framework aimed to clamp down on “exorbitant” fees of some supply agencies, placing a caps on the rates they could charge.

In July, the DfE published a case study on Lime Trust, a nine-school trust in London, Luton and Peterborough, which had “made significant savings on supply staffing” using a GCA framework agreement.

Lime Trust had previously “relied on 15 to 30 different supply agencies for supply staff, each charging its own rates with mark-ups of between 22 per cent and 45 per cent,” said the DfE post.

But after adopting a managed service model – in which a single supplier manages temporary staffing agencies on a school or trust’s behalf –  through the GCA framework, it consolidated its supply staffing activity through Affinity Workforce Solutions (AWS).

The DfE blog said the switch in April 2021 had a “substantial” impact on the trust’s finances. It had since “benefited from a more efficient and streamlined process with reduced expenditure”.

Saving of £100,000

The DfE said that “beyond day-to-day cost reductions”, the trust recruited more than 30 permanent staff through the framework’s temporary-to-permanent route, “saving nearly £100,000 in recruitment fees alone”.

But despite the saving, accounts and FOI responses suggest the trust’s supply costs have more than trebled since 2022, with discrepancies between the reported spends.

Lime Trust said higher pay and organisational growth has increased its overall supply costs.

Bethan Cullen, the deputy chief executive of the Centre for Education Operational Excellence, said the example highlighted how potential contract savings were “only part of the story”.

“Effective and efficient procurement routes can save schools and trusts money, and they should always look for those savings,” she said.

“But a saving in one area is only part of the story. External pressures, changing staffing needs and organisational change can push overall costs up.

“Operational excellence means looking at the whole picture: total spend, what is driving it and which decisions will make a lasting difference.”

Meanwhile, accounts for Lime Trust also showed conflicting figures for its supply staff spend in 2022-23.

Different figures

Two different figures appear in its accounts, while the trust gave a third figure in response to a freedom of information (FOI) request shared with Schools Week.

Lime Trust’s accounts for the 2022-23 financial year list its “agency staff costs” for that year as being £910,000.

But its accounts for the following year (2023-24) list the 2022-23 spend at £4.42 million – almost four times the original figure. It states the 2023-24 spend was a similar figure, at £4.24 million.

Meanwhile, responding to an FOI request in June, Lime said its “total agency spend” for 2022-23 was £3.55 million.

The trust has not explained the apparent discrepancy.

Meanwhile the DfE said a dossier containing details of the discrepancies – sent by a whistleblower to the department and to Schools Week – has been passed to its schools financial support and oversight team.

Since publishing its blog in July, the DfE has added a disclaimer stating: “Any savings, benefits and outcomes described in this article case study were provided by Lime Trust and reflect its specific experience and circumstances. Individual results will vary between schools and trusts.”

Lime Trust’s July FOI response suggested its agency spend increased by about £500,000 between 2021-22 and 2022-23 – from about £3.05 million to about £3.55 million.

The total spend did then decrease, but as of 2024-25 – the last full year for which data was provided – it had not dropped below where it was in 2021-22, remaining at £3,103,000.

Payments rise

The FOI showed Lime Trust’s payments to AWS and linked companies rose from £1.25 million in 2021-22, to £1.85 million in 2022-23, and to £1.96 million in 2024-25.

The trust said this increase was due to in part to trust growth and supply requirements, while AWS said staff costs had also risen significantly.

Lime Trust said its overall supply costs had increased “due to a number of external factors that includes the impact of pay rises throughout the sector and a significant period of organisational growth.

“As a successful trust, we have welcomed new schools and settings, including those with particular challenges.

“Our utmost priority has therefore been to ensure that these academies are adequately staffed to immediately meet the needs of learners, secure rapid improvement and provide the highest standard of education.”

It added it had “seen the benefits of the supply teachers and temporary staff framework, securing lower mark-up rates and the assurance that supply staff are paid a fair wage.”

The trust’s published accounts suggest its workforce grew between 2022-23 and 2025-26.

In 2022 the average number of full-time equivalent staff, including agency staff, was 709. This fell to 688 in 2023, but rose to 742 in 2025.

AWS said Lime Academy Hartwell, a special school in Luton, joined the trust in 2025 meaning the final five months of 2024-25 covered an additional school.

‘Significant pay increases’

Meanwhile AWS said even without additional staff, pay had increased significantly in recent years.

The DfE also stressed that agency staff costs could rise because of wage increases and national insurance hikes, as well as the need for more agency staff.

It added that its blog post had highlighted the savings made by Lime through the framework’s “temporary-to-permanent” staff transfer benefits.

Schools minister Georgia Gould previously said permanent recruitment fees “can be as high as 20 per cent of a role’s annual salary”.

But the GCA framework includes a 12-week free temporary-to-permanent provision, meaning schools can employ supply staff permanently after 12 weeks without paying a transfer fee.

An AWS spokesperson said: “Schools cannot escape national wage increases or higher employer national insurance. What they can do is secure better staffing rates and avoid unnecessary recruitment fees. A higher total bill does not mean those savings have disappeared.

“We keep experienced teachers in classrooms and help schools manage their staffing costs. Nearly a quarter of supply teachers in our latest survey said they would have left education entirely if they could not work on supply. Almost all said it gave them the flexibility they wanted.

“That is experience schools cannot afford to lose, at a time when they are struggling to recruit and retain staff. Supply work allows those teachers to stay in the profession on terms that work for them and their lifestyle, and gives schools the cover they need without the cost of permanent employees.”

‘Transparent costs’

The 2026 academy handbook, published last week, says trusts “must use” the supply teachers and education recruitment framework for supply staffing, “unless they have an alternative complaint agreement with rates which do not exceed those available through the framework”.

As well as rate caps and free temporary-to-permanent provision, the DfE says the framework offers transparent costs, and complete background and safeguarding checks.

Lime Trust switched to the GCA framework agreement in 2021, after past issues involving supply agency payments.

As reported by Schools Week in 2023, three senior staff left the trust after an internal audit found an “undisclosed conflict of interest” over £379,000 paid to a supply teacher agency run by a relative.

Accounts showed the trust’s agency staff costs had grown from £502,000 in 2021 to £863,000 in 2022.

The governance statement in the trust’s accounts for the year up to 31 August 2022 said the trust’s accounting officer had improved value for money by “reviewing school spend on supply cover, reducing the use of agency staff and negotiating better daily rates with a range of suppliers.

“During the next reporting period, the trust will be using the DfE framework agreement to get even better prices,” it added.