During her questioning of Mr. Zahawi, substitute teacher Kate from Hereford claimed she was “so baffled by that load of waffle I can’t believe it.”
Her salary is £100 each day, or $23,000 per year.
“Look at the amount of teachers who are leaving the profession because supply teaching is no longer an option, we may as well go and stack shelves in Tesco for a tenner an hour,” she said.
“I don’t know why in England there is a completely different rule, in Wales there is a minimum £142 a day, in Ireland there is a minimum set, in Scotland you get your main pay scale, in England supply teachers are being shafted and no one gives a damn.”
Earlier this year, the NASUWT teachers’ union conducted a study in which it discovered that seven out of ten English teachers had contemplated quitting because of low salary.
Zahawi stated that “the national living wage has gone up… and that will help supply teachers,” but added that the amount they are paid “depends on what the ask is” from each school.
As an additional goal, “to make sure that teachers enter the profession at £30,000 a year” was mentioned by him.