Where does your trust sit on supply spend, and are you ready for June 2026?

English schools and trusts spent £1.4 billion on supply staff in 2023/24. Among multi-academy trusts with six or more schools, the average trust spends £1.13 million a year - around £205 per pupil. Trusts at the 90th percentile spend nearly four times the median. (Home - Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool - GOV.UK)

The scale is significant. The variation is even more so. With the Crown Commercial Service framework changing in June 2026, clarity on your current position is increasingly important.

Supply spend is significant and structurally complex

Supply is one of the largest variable cost lines in most trusts. It sits at the intersection of staffing, absence management, procurement, and operational practice. Data is often disperseed across systems, and the drivers sit in different parts of the organisation. That complexity makes consistent oversight more challenging. The latest national picture, drawn from DfE data on academy trusts, makes the case for urgency clear. 1 in 10 academy trusts spend more than 5% of their total budget on supply staff. Some trusts exceed 10%. In many cases, boards see a headline figure in finance reporting, with limited analysis of the drivers sitting underneath it.  

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The variation is what matters

The most striking feature in the data is the spread.  

Trusts of comparable size and context can spend three to four times more per pupil on supply than their peers.  

Agency rates and national workforce pressures affect everyone. They do not fully account for that level of variation.

What happens inside schools: how absence is managed, how cover decisions are made, how much internal flexibility exists, and how consistently those practices are applied across a trust, often play a material role

Where variation exists, there is usually insight to be gained that can support work to reduce spend.  

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Where visibility often weakens

In our experience, most trusts can identify their highest-spending schools. Fewer have a clear, evidenced explanation for the difference. Context matters. So do operational practices. Without analysis, it can be difficult to distinguish between the two.  

Budget-setting approaches also vary. In some trusts, supply budgets are built from projected demand and agreed assumptions. In others, they are rolled forward from prior-year actuals. Both approaches are understandable. The key question is whether the underlying drivers are well understood.

When historical patterns are not examined, they tend to persist.  

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Why June 2026 changes how supply works

The forthcoming CCS framework is expected to introduce capped agency rates. This will change aspects of supply procurement across the sector.

Trusts with high agency reliance, limited visibility of rate structures or inconsistent booking practices may find the transition more demanding. Trusts that already have a clear picture of their supply position will be better placed to plan for the new framework and set budgets for 2026/27 with confidence.  

That level of clarity takes time to build.

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What the diagnostic involves

ImpactEd's supply spend diagnostic brings together financial and operational data with structured conversations with headteachers and central team members. The combination matters: the numbers show you what is happening, and conversations with those responsible for day-to-day decisions help explain why. Both are needed to identify the  levers most likely to have meaningful impact.

The programme begins with a diagnostic report: a clear account of spend drivers, school-level variation and a prioritised set of recommendations, presented and discussed directly with your senior team and board. Where the diagnostic identifies clear opportunities, we can move into a second phase: testing targeted operational changes in selected schools, with clear metrics to measure impact before any trust-wide commitment. For trusts wanting to go further, a third phase supports implementation and embeds sustainable change across the whole trust.

The programme can be scoped to your whole trust, or focused on a specific region or group of higher-spending schools. It is designed to give you the visibility and strategic clarity needed for informed decision-making,, alongside a practical roadmap for action.

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The right starting point

If you are not sure where your trust sits in the national picture, we can show you using published DfE data before you commit to anything further. The right first step is a 30-minute conversation: book a call with one of the team.

Alternatively, our free resource, 10 questions every MAT leader should be able to answer about their supply spend before June 2026, is designed to help you assess your current position with your senior team. Download it and work through the questions with your senior team.  If it highlights areas where further clarity would be helpful, we can support you in addressing them.

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More on our Supply Spend Campaign and how to get involved: https://www.impactedgroup.uk/minimising-supply-spend