Staffing across your trust shouldn't feel fragmented
Bring consistency, visibility and control to how you manage staffing across every school, while staying fully compliant with DfE approved frameworks and public sector procurement requirements (including RM6376).
Why staffing gets harder to manage at trust level
In many trusts, staffing is still managed school by school. Each school builds its own processes, agency relationships, and way of doing things.
Over time, that creates:
- Inconsistent approaches across schools
- Limited visibility of spend and usage
- More time spent managing multiple agencies
- Increasing pressure on school leaders
This is becoming increasingly important as MATs are expected to procure staffing through compliant frameworks such as the Government Commercial Agency framework (formerly CCS framework) or equivalent DfE-approved procurement frameworks.
From September 2026, trusts will need to clearly evidence compliant supply procurement, but compliance alone isn’t the challenge.
The real pressure is making sure every school has reliable staff, consistent quality and clear, predictable costs without adding extra workload for your leaders.
Protocol Education is an approved supplier on the Government Commercial Agency framework (formerly Crown Commercial Services framework) and Value Match framework:
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Three compliant ways to work with Protocol Education
The right approach depends on how much consistency and control you want across your schools.
Contingent supply
For day-to-day cover across schools
You get:
- Access to a large pool of vetted educators
- Flexible bookings when you need them
- Transparent, framework-aligned pricing in line with RM6376 national framework agreement
PE+ strategic partnership
Recommended for trusts who want consistency
You get:
- One consistent pricing across your trust
- A dedicated account manager who understands your schools
- Reporting with clear visibility of spend
- Access to wider workforce support when you need it (CPD, HR, wellbeing and more)
- Built to operate consistently across your trust within supply frameworks and DfE guidance
Managed service via SupplyBank
Best for larger trusts ready to fully
centralise supply
You get:
- One partner managing all bookings
- Centralised oversight and reporting
- Reduced admin across your teams
- Delivered in line with public sector procurement frameworks, giving you full compliance without added administration
If supply still feels inconsistent across your trust, it’s worth a conversation
What a stronger supply model looks like in practice
A well-managed approach doesn’t just fill gaps. It creates consistency across your trust and takes pressure off your schools.
Clear, controlled spend
- Supplier fees capped under the RM6376 or Value Match agreements
- Transparent pricing with no hidden margin
- Trust-wide consistency (not school-by-school variation)
Fewer vacancies becoming long-term issues
- Fast response for same-day and planned cover
- Access to a large, pre-vetted educator pool
- Reduced disruption to pupils and staff
A pathway to permanent recruitment (at no cost)
- Convert educators after 12 weeks with zero fees
- Reduce reliance on expensive permanent recruitment
- Build a sustainable workforce pipeline
Consistency across every school
- One approach across all schools
- Shared data and reporting
- No reliance on individual school relationships
Less pressure on school leaders
- No repeated supplier negotiations
- Clear escalation routes
- Centralised oversight and reporting
Same framework, a different experience
All suppliers on the GCA (formerly CCS) and ValueMatch frameworks support compliance. What changes is how that works day to day across your trust.
With a more joined-up approach, you get:
- Consistent pricing across all schools
- Trust-wide reporting you can actually use
- A dedicated account manager
- Regular performance reviews
- One clear escalation route
Frequently asked questions from trusts.
Not necessarily, but many trusts are reviewing whether their current approach will work under increased scrutiny.
Even when using approved suppliers, challenges can remain:
- Different processes across schools
- Limited trust-level visibility of spend
- Inconsistent pricing or performance
The question most MATs are now asking is:
👉 Is our current model consistent and transparent enough across the trust?
Frameworks introduce caps and greater transparency, but they don’t automatically reduce overall spend.
What MATs are finding is:
- Spend is often less predictable when managed school by school
- Hidden inconsistencies between schools drive inefficiency
- Lack of oversight makes optimisation difficult
The biggest impact on cost usually comes from: having a consistent, trust-wide approach, not just changing framework
This is a major concern. Many leaders worry that: More compliance = more admin.
In practice, the opposite can be true, if your model is structured correctly.
A more joined-up approach can:
- Reduce repeated supplier negotiations
- Simplify reporting
- Provide central visibility
- Reduce duplication across schools
So compliance becomes part of the system, not extra work.
From September 2026, Multi-Academy Trusts are expected to procure supply staff through an approved framework, with RM6376 being the primary national route.
You can use alternative routes, but only if they meet the same standards for compliance, transparency, and value for money as a recognised framework.
Only if you can demonstrate full compliance with public sector procurement regulations.
This means showing:
- Fair competition or benchmarking
- Transparent pricing
- Alignment with the Procurement Act 2023
In practice, most MATs move to framework-approved suppliers to reduce audit risk and simplify governance.
Frameworks like RM6376 now sit under GCA, but:
- The structure remains the same
- Suppliers are still pre-approved
- The procurement route is still fully compliant
You may still hear “CCS frameworks”, but GCA is now the current body.
This can include:
- Regional or sector-specific frameworks
- Models like the Value Match framework
- Other approved supply teacher frameworks
The key requirement is that the route delivers compliance, value for money, and transparency.
Frameworks are designed to make recruitment safer, faster and more cost-effective.
For MATs, they provide:
- A compliant route aligned to DfE guidance
- Access to vetted, approved suppliers
- Pre-agreed pricing and reduced risk of hidden costs
- Less procurement administration
They are widely used to standardise recruitment across multiple schools.
Being on a framework is only the starting point. MATs should look for partners who can:
- Deliver consistently across multiple schools
- Provide visibility and reporting on spend
- Support trust-wide workforce planning
- Operate effectively within RM6376 or other frameworks
This is especially important for MATs moving from reactive supply use to a more strategic staffing model.