LOCAL education authorities in the South West have come together to create their own staffing agency to give supply teachers a better deal and reduce the cost to schools.

Swindon Council is joined in the scheme by Gloucestershire County Council and Wiltshire County Council.

They will be advertising for primary and secondary teachers through the GWIST partnership, a not-for-profit supply teacher service that bypasses the traditional recruitment agency.

GWIST Supply Teacher Service is based on an idea first piloted by Devon County Council which has proved highly successful in retaining a workable pool of supply teachers.

The key to the scheme is in the agency's status as a not-for-profit body which removes a traditional layer of cost to the school and enables supply teachers to receive benefits on a par with full time members of staff.

GWIST recruitment manager, Tony Murch, said: "It is important to point out that under this scheme supply teachers are employed by the school, not the agency. This is why they are now able to claim a professional deal for a professional job."