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Non-teaching Staff: Conditions of Employment

Asked by Laurence TurnerLabourDepartment for EducationTabled Answered 16 January 2025UIN 21253

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the (a) number and (b) proportion of school support staff in state-funded schools in England who are employed on (i) zero-hour and (ii) term time-only contracts.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell

Information on the school workforce is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

The school workforce census does not collect figures on zero-hour contracts and does not directly identify term time-only contracts. In November 2023, the latest information available, there were 71,000 school support staff contracts for between 37 and 40 weeks, the likely duration of term time-only contracts, in state-funded schools in England. This equates to 13% of support staff contracts where a duration was reported.

Support staff may have more than one contract, so individuals may be counted more than once.

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