Over half of school staff use own money on supplies

A new survey exploring the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on education staff in the UK has revealed over 50% of workers have spent their own money on supplies for the classroom. Of those respondents buying materials, almost 24% find themselves regularly purchasing materials, with 28% doing so occasionally.
 
The survey, by membership service Discounts for Teachers, polled over 1,000 workers from across the education sector, to highlight the financial struggles affecting educators’ day-to-day lives. Discounts for Teachers is calling for greater support to help incentivise the sector and keep quality teachers in schools.
 
With respondents spanning schoolteachers to catering staff, and university lecturers to nursery workers, a further one in five have taken an additional jobs as prices continue to rise. Amongst these additional jobs, education staff cited tutoring at weekends, working in supermarkets, babysitting and administration work, on top of their overstretched workloads.
 
Over 75% of respondents also said the current economic climate is having a negative impact on their mental health and wellbeing. For a sector facing wellbeing and recruitment challenges, these findings underline the risk that today’s financial pressures pose to retaining good quality education staff.
 
Beyond impacting their work in the classroom and ability to support students, the research further highlights where staff have made cutbacks at home. A significant 78% of respondents have restricted turning the heating whilst 64% are foregoing putting money into savings accounts because of skyrocketing energy bills, and 16% said they have made the biggest cutbacks in groceries and food.
 
Small luxuries such as restaurant and cinema trips have also taken a hit, with 80% of respondents foregoing dining out in order to save money.
 
Strikingly, many respondents said the current cost-of-living crisis has impacted their ability to take industrial action, with a quarter saying it had completely affected their ability to strike. This emphasises the increasingly difficult position individuals working in the sector are facing.
 
The economic climate has also shifted educators’ holiday habits, with 60% of respondents going on holiday less often, and 12% opting to take a break somewhere local.