Complete control over your supply spend and direct access to trusted candidates.

  • With 20 years in the education recruitment industry, our founders know a thing or two about how it operates, SupplyNow aims to challenge and improve every aspect of education recruitment. Access to the best supply staff with the assurance and convenience of an agency.

How it works

Get started here

To discuss working with SupplyNow for your supply needs, pop your details in our form for a quick call-back.

What happens nextHere's how it works

1 Register online

2 Speak with SupplyNow

3 Complete your school profile

Why schools love SupplyNow

I'm not in the habit of giving personal endorsements to companies that I've worked with, but I make an exception on this occasion. At a time when MATs are trying to make efficiencies across the board, SupplyNow has proven to be a cost-effective solution to our supply issues. I can't recommend them highly enough.


Richard, CFO of a Kent MAT

From my very first meeting and subsequent telephone conversation, I realised that SupplyNow was different. Not only was everyone so friendly and personable, but it was evident that this was a very professional set-up.  Without fail, our school have been provided with an excellent calibre of candidate. All in all, Supply Now make it their business to get to know their employees, providing a professional but very personal service, including great value for money.


Monique, Headteacher, Academy of Cuxton Schools

I think the system is fab, it saves me so much time. Brilliant. It’s easy to use, transparent and so simple. I can use it 24/7 from any country in the world.


Kevin – School Business Manager - South London

Commonly asked questionsFAQs

Using our simple web interface you can specify exactly what sort of cover you need, when, and for how long. You can make the booking at any time or day of the week. This could be same-day cover, or for a longer-term vacancy. You set your preferences and broadcast your requirement. The system will use its matching algorithm and expertise to cascade its search until it finds a candidate who meets your needs. As soon as a candidate accepts you will be notified and sent their safeguarding details for your OFSTED-required single central record.

We work with any classroom staff - qualified and unqualified teachers, cover supervisors, HLTAs, and classroom support staff.

Yes, you can upload details of your own supply list and book these for your school. Candidates will be paid by SupplyNow rather than paid by the school. Once registered on SupplyNow these candidates will be available to be approached about work at other schools too, which they can accept or decline as they wish. Any candidates who are uploaded to the platform will need to pass SupplyNow's safeguarding requirements.

By using technology rather than recruitment consultants in offices on telephones we can offer a faster, better service paying fair rates to supply staff and offering fairer costs to schools and academies as well as better pay rates to candidates.

A bit like Uber or Tripadvisor. You are asked to give a star rating on the candidate. You can also add candidates to your favourites list to be contacted first, or add them to your "no thanks" list. We know that not every candidate gets on well at every school, and vice versa. Candidates can similarly rate schools and add then to their favourites or "no thanks" list. You will have full visibility of your feedback ratings and we may make suggestions on how you could improve your future feedback.

The platform will start by looking for supply staff who meet all of your criteria, e.g. favourite, lives within 15 minutes, is a subject expert or taught the same class. If it can't find anyone with those criteria it will gradually widen the search using the inbuilt expertise. Because we can contact thousands of candidates at the same time, within 5 minutes of you adding the booking (this allows you a cool off period) rather than one after the other on the telephone, we should always be faster than other methods meaning you will know quickly whether you need to relax your criteria or make alternative arrangements. It will also release the booking in real time so you don’t have to wait for an agency to open. Also, because you aren't locked into a subscription you can also use other sources of supply staff in times of high absence levels. Because of the speed of our system you should also have access to the widest pool of the best supply staff.

Because SupplyNow is completely pay as you go with no upfront costs you are able to use us as either your sole source of supply staff (yes please!), your first port of call supported by other methods, or only in peak periods of demand when your other sources have dried up. We are confident that due to our convenient user interface, wide choice, and great rates that we will have available supply staff when others have not. If your agency does offer you a low rate this is most likely because they are paying a low-rate to their supply staff, meaning that in periods of high demand it is unlikely you will be able to get the staff you need.

We would also like to think that schools are as keen for supply staff to be paid a fairer rate of pay than via most agencies as we are. We aim to keep more money in the pockets of supply staff and schools and less leaking out of the system in the form of commissions (we don’t have to pay them at all!)

For longer term supply our charges work in exactly the same way. You can either just engage a teacher or teaching assistant in the same way you book them for day-to-day cover, or use the dedicated functionality on the SupplyNow platform to view CVs and book interview slots (coming soon)

We carry out the same checks that you would, and we supply evidence of those checks for your OFSTED required Single Central Record. As the employer of record it is SupplyNow and not the school that is responsible for ensuring that the relevant checks have been completed satisfactorily. You can engage candidates through the platform with complete peace of mind. Candidates will have a digital ID card that you can compare to the information you were supplied with at the point of booking, including an ID photo.

Candidates will not be able to accept work through the platform if any of their mandatory checks has not been completed or has lapsed.

Our pre-employment and ongoing vetting checks are in line with DfE Keeping Children Safe in Schools : Safer Recruitment September 2016.

Safeguarding Check-list: 

  •  Face-to-face interview/Verified virtual checks
  •  Overseas police check required for six months or more from a country visited in the last five years
  •  Enhanced DBS - Appropriate for the role they are placed in.
  •  Barred list (renewed every 12 months as part of an Enhanced DBS check)
  •  Cover employment history going back 10 years with no gaps
  •  Gains rehabilitation of offenders declaration observing the filtering rules in association with Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
  •  At least one UK proof of address
  •  Proof of identity
  •  Right to work in the UK
  •  National Insurance number
  •  School and university qualifications
  •  Prohibition list check, as well as the EEA Teacher sanctions, checklist
  •  National College for Teaching Leadership for all teachers
  •  Two references- within the last 2 years - Including the most recent employer
  •  Medical declaration and risk assessment if required.
  •  Provide the Keeping Children Safe in Education and Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance - Updated yearly, most recently September 1st 2023
  •  Recommendation of a prohibition order where appropriate
  •  Childcare disqualification check as standard
  •  Standard Online Checks
  •  Safeguarding and Prevent Training is provided to all staff members in advance of placement - Updated Yearly

Responsibility for paying the supply staff and ensuring that taxes are deducted sits squarely with SupplyNow.  Schools cannot legitimately pay candidates as self-employed or limited companies (without deducting full taxes) and neither can any app or agency platform.  Our candidates are either directly engaged on "PAYE" by SupplyNow, or if the candidate prefers they can work through an approved and vetted umbrella payroll company.  SupplyNow ensures that all employment on-costs are passed on to the umbrella company so that the candidate does not lose out.  You may want to look into how supply staff are engaged through other technology platforms as several, in our opinion, are not compliant with current legislation and could be creating a liability for the candidate and potentially for the school. 

It all depends on what you want and need.

The benefits of SupplyNow for a school are that we take the role of employer and pay the teacher. We can engage teachers at whatever rates we agree with them rather than being bound by MPS, although we are trying to get as close to MPS as possible without pricing our candidates out of the market. We also don't have to contribute 16.48% of their day rate to the Teachers Pension Scheme as a school does, and teachers don't have to contribute 10% of their pay to Teachers Pension Scheme - something we have found that teachers would rather not do if they are only working on supply for a relatively short period of time.

You also don't have to pay an up-front subscription and you can use the platform to manage your existing supply list free of charge.

You don't have the responsibility of checking and maintaining a record of safeguarding information and pre-employment checks, and you don't have the administration overhead of getting supply staff set up on your payroll system or dealing with pay queries.

It is more like using a supply agency, albeit with better pay to supply staff, a more streamlined way of booking, and transparent and low margins.

For some schools, the idea of paying an up-front subscription fee and then acting as the employer for supply staff may be a better answer, particularly if levels of supply are low and one source of staff could satisfy peaks in demand

Watch our videoSee how SupplyNow works

Supply Heroes Video

Real People and Real Support

There are real people behind SupplyNow, with masses of recruitment and teaching experience and so we know how things work.Help is free and you'll always get a real, live human at the end of the phone.


Award-Winning Customer Support If You Need It

Our Philosophy at SupplyNow

We've spent long enough listening to those working "on supply" explain how time consuming it can be working with timesheets and how lack of communication can limit work opportunities

We are proud to have been nominated as a Finalist for Startup of the Year at the Bett Awards 2018