38th Report - Increasing teacher numbers: Secondary and further education
Select Committee
Public Accounts Committee
HC 825
9 July 2025
Recommendations
2 results
8
Accepted
Department claims positive impact on teacher recruitment and retention from current initiatives
Recommendation
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 …
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Government Response Summary
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
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17
Accepted
Department's further education workforce data collection is incomplete, undermining projection reliability.
Recommendation
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 …
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Government Response Summary
The government states that strengthening the FE evidence base is a key priority, highlighting the FE Workforce in England data publication and increased provider response rates, as well as steps to improve data and evidence related to teacher training for the FE sector.
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (25) Observations and findings — click to expand
2
Conclusion
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 Summary
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.
3
Conclusion
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 Summary
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.
4
Conclusion
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 Summary
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.
5
Conclusion
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 Summary
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 wider rollout from January 2026, pending evaluation and funding.
6
Conclusion
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 Summary
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 over the next year to inform its approach.
1
Conclusion
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 Summary
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 and tracked.
7
Conclusion
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 Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation to set out how it plans to deliver the pledge for 6,500 additional teachers.
9
Conclusion
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 Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation to set out how it plans to deliver the pledge for 6,500 additional teachers.
10
Conclusion
Accepted
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 Summary
The government is investing in analysing and evaluating policies to understand impact, maximise value for money and ensure focus on our best evidenced levers, including embedding value for money analysis into the design and evaluation of major initiatives.
11
Conclusion
Accepted
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 Summary
The department is investing in analyzing and evaluating policies and is embedding value for money analysis into the design and evaluation of all major initiatives, and is using data from various sources to inform its strategy.
12
Conclusion
Acknowledged
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 Summary
The department continues to review the balance between recruitment and retention measures and is undertaking an evaluation of the Targeted Retention Incentive to better understand its impact on the workforce in colleges, while considering whether to adopt its target setting approach for ITT routes in future years.
13
Conclusion
Accepted
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 Summary
The department has published some evidence of variations in schools and works with schools and colleges to inform understanding of why the variations exist.
14
Conclusion
Accepted
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 Summary
The government offers the Targeted Retention Incentive (TRI) worth up to £6,000 per year after tax for early career teachers in key STEM and technical subjects in disadvantaged schools and all FE colleges.
15
Conclusion
Accepted
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 Summary
The government acknowledges variations in school and FE recruitment and retention, highlighting the Targeted Retention Incentive (TRI) offering up to £6,000 per year for early career teachers in STEM and technical subjects in disadvantaged schools and all FE colleges.
16
Conclusion
Accepted
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 Summary
The government offers the Targeted Retention Incentive (TRI) worth up to £6,000 per year after tax for early career teachers in key STEM and technical subjects in disadvantaged schools and all FE colleges.
18
Conclusion
Accepted
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 Summary
The government states they gather data through the Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders study and are working with the sector through the Improving Education Together partnership to help improve teacher retention across schools and colleges, including developing a workload reduction toolkit and exploring how AI and digital tools can transform teaching and learning.
19
Conclusion
Accepted
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 Summary
The government gathers data through the longitudinal Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders study and is working with the sector to help improve teacher retention across schools and colleges, including exploring how AI and digital tools can transform teaching and learning.
20
Conclusion
Acknowledged
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 Summary
The department is engaging with partners to understand potential areas for reform of the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document, promoting the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter and is developing and promoting the Improve Workload and Wellbeing for School Staff service, as well as publishing non-statutory guidance, a flexible working toolkit, and delivering a culture change programme across schools and multi-academy trusts to support flexible working.
21
Conclusion
Accepted
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 Summary
The government is supporting senior leaders in developing good school cultures with high expectations through the attendance and behaviour hubs programme, which has shown positive changes in staff-rated behaviour in previous iterations.
22
Conclusion
Acknowledged
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 Summary
The government highlights evidence suggesting that pay can be an effective lever and mentions growing evidence on the effectiveness and value for money of specific targeted financial measures, like bursaries and retention payments, and for non-financial interventions.
23
Conclusion
Acknowledged
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 Summary
The government states it continues to assess interventions for recruitment and retention, setting out its view on pay and providing evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body while monitoring the impact of funding decisions on pay in FE.
24
Conclusion
Acknowledged
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 Summary
The government states that evidence suggests pay can be an effective lever at scale but that evidence is growing on the effectiveness and value for money of specific targeted financial measures, like bursaries and retention payments, and for non-financial interventions.
25
Conclusion
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 Summary
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 inform future policy.
26
Conclusion
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 Summary
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 inform future policy.
27
Conclusion
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 Summary
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 policy.