The Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) that come into force on 1 October could lead to age discrimination, if schools “lean on” recruitment agencies to supply only newly qualified supply teachers, according to a director of Randstad Education.

John Dunn told Recruiter that because highly experienced supply teachers would be paid at the higher levels of teachers’ pay scales after the AWR 12-week qualifying period, there was a danger that schools would put pressure on agencies to only supply newly qualified and therefore cheaper supply teachers.

If this happened, Dunn warned there was a danger that experienced teachers would be indirectly discriminated against on grounds of their age. This could result in an Employment Tribunal test case, he said.

“I think that DfE (Department for Education) and BIS (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) should say to schools, ’You cannot lean on schools to supply newly qualified supply teachers rather than experienced teachers because this could be discriminatory’,” said Dunn.

Daniel Boucher, managing director of NP Education, told Recruiter that in some cases supply teachers’ pay would have to go up by 50% in order to match the comparator figure for permanent staff. This could potentially damage teacher agencies, he warned.

“The education sector has been more harshly treated than others because the gap between the standard supply teachers’ pay and their pay after AWR is pretty extreme.”

“You cannot base a business on getting less experienced people through the door,” Boucher added. DfE had not responded as Recruiter went to press.