UK Inquiry Tracker

Increasing teacher numbers: Secondary and further education

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 26 Mar 2025 Closed: 22 Sep 2025 Parliament page

Teacher recruitment and retention has been a challenge for over ten years. The Department for Education (DfE) has predicted that the secondary school population will peak in 2026/27, with secondary school pupil-to-teacher ratios at their highest since 2010. DfE laid out a vision in 2022 for every child to be … Read more Teacher recruitment and retention has been a challenge for over ten years. The Department for Education (DfE) has predicted that the secondary school population will peak in 2026/27, with secondary school pupil-to-teacher ratios at their highest since 2010. DfE laid out a vision in 2022 for every child to be taught by an excellent teacher by 2030. Its teacher recruitment and retention strategy was published in 2019 , setting out priorities for making sure a career in teaching is attractive, sustainable and rewarding. The PAC reported on retaining and developing the teaching workforce in 2018 , finding that Government failures on teacher numbers was adding to pressure on schools. The report highlighted a growing sense of crisis for schools in England struggling to retain and develop their workforces. A 2016 report on training new teachers called for an urgent review of teacher training in England, while concluding that the Government was failing to understand the difficulties many schools were facing in recruiting teachers. The National Audit Office’s (NAO) 2025 report on ensuring sufficient teachers in secondary and further education examined DfE’s approach to identifying and meeting teacher workforce needs. Based on the NAO report, the PAC will hear from senior DfE officials on subjects including: The workforce required in secondary and further education; Government decision-making on where to invest or intervene to address need; and Progress in addressing recruitment and retention issues. If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by 23:59 on Monday 5 May 2025. Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. Please note that the Committee’s inquiry cannot assist with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to read the information on Parliament’s website about who you can contact with different issues . Show less

2 Recommendations

25 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

2 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 6 events

24 Nov
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education relating to the increase of teacher numbers, 14 November 2025

15 Oct
2025

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-eighth report from Session 2024-26

9 Jul
2025

Report published

38th Report - Increasing teacher numbers: Secondary and further education

9 Jun
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary for the Department for Education relating to the follow up on the oral evidence session held on 19 May …

19 May
2025

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

19 May
2025

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Thatcher Room, Portcullis House

Committee event

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

19 May 2025

View on parliament.uk

Julia Kinniburgh · Department for Education Juliet Chua · Department for Education Susan Acland-Hood · The Department for Education

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
38th Report - Increasing teacher numbers: Secondary and further …	HC 825	9 Jul 2025	27	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

27 results

2 Conclusion Accepted

38th Report - Increasing teacher n…

Develop a whole-system strategy to recruit and retain school and college teachers.

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 … Read more

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

Increasing teacher numbers: Secondary and further education

Activity timeline 6 events

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Recommendations & Conclusions

Develop a whole-system strategy to recruit and retain school and college teachers.

Understand reasons for teacher variations in deprived areas and core subjects.

Update Committee on recruitment and retention plans for the further education sector.

Understand why teachers leave and support schools in addressing workload and conditions.

Assess effectiveness and value-for-money of teacher pay against other recruitment initiatives

Committee took evidence on increasing teacher numbers across secondary schools and colleges

Department lacks clear baseline and milestones for 6,500 teacher recruitment pledge

Department claims positive impact on teacher recruitment and retention from current initiatives

Department allocated £700 million for diverse teacher recruitment and retention initiatives

Department lacks robust value-for-money analysis for teacher recruitment initiatives and spending

Department has not fully evaluated all teacher recruitment and retention initiatives

Department's teacher recruitment targets overly focus on initial training routes

Department previously worked in silos, hindering understanding of inter-sector teacher competition

Further education colleges face significant challenges recruiting teachers and filling vacancies

Further education teacher recruitment receives insufficient focus and funding compared to schools.

Department's further education teacher recruitment initiatives remain new and unevaluated for long-term impact.

Department's further education workforce data collection is incomplete, undermining projection reliability.

Education sector suffers lower long-term teacher retention compared to other public and private sectors.

High teacher workload and stress are significant, unresolved drivers of educators leaving the profession.

Experienced teachers lack financial incentives and structured support, limiting their retention in the profession.

Poor pupil behaviour increasingly contributes to teacher stress and departure from the profession.

Teacher pay has significantly declined in real terms, impacting recruitment and retention competitiveness.

Department's influence on teacher pay varies, with no pay review body for further education colleges.

Department lacks comprehensive analysis comparing cost-effectiveness of incentives against direct teacher pay increases.

Secondary school teaching vacancies significantly increased, impacting pupil achievement and specialist subjects.

Disadvantaged schools suffer higher teacher turnover, fewer experienced staff, and limited pupil opportunities.

Further education colleges struggle with high specialist teaching vacancies due to uncompetitive salaries.

Government Response AI assessment · 27 of 2 classified

Correspondence 2 letters