Understand agency-worker equal treatment, recruitment checks, safeguarding responsibilities and what happens when a booking changes.
IN PLAIN ENGLISH
Your rights and responsibilities depend on the arrangement. Keep the terms and dates, ask for clear explanations and seek advice promptly when something is disputed.
Start with the issue
The guides below explain different questions: whether pay and conditions should be reviewed, which checks a role needs, how to raise safeguarding concerns and what a cancellation means. A long booking does not answer all of them at once.
If you are unsure who employs you, first read how supply teaching works. For a pay dispute, establish the agreed gross-wage figure using supply teacher pay before comparing numbers.
Keep useful records
Keep assignment dates, roles, written terms and payslips. Keep pupil information in the school’s approved systems. General rights guidance cannot determine an individual claim from a job title alone.
Employment and safeguarding rules differ across the UK. Check the scope of each guide and use the linked national sources. If a dispute may become a claim, get advice promptly rather than waiting for the next booking.
Explore the guides
Agency Worker Regulations
The Agency Worker Regulations give qualifying agency workers rights to equal treatment in certain working conditions. For supply staff, the important questions are who the hirer is, what role you…
Cancelled bookings and notice
A cancelled booking can mean lost income and wasted travel. What you are owed depends on the agreement, your employment status and the circumstances, so keep the booking terms and…
DBS for supply teaching
The right criminal-record check depends on the work and the UK nation. A certificate is one part of safer recruitment, not permission to start any school role without further checks.
Safeguarding on supply
Being at a school for only a day does not make safeguarding someone else’s responsibility. You need to know the local reporting route before a concern arises.
Last reviewed: 20 September 2026. Official guidance and individual arrangements can change.