In 2015 schools in the UK spent £1.3 billion on supply teachers. Schools currently use expensive recruitment agencies to hire these last minute teachers but Worktu has created a simple online marketplace that allows schools to search and book local teachers instantly. Worktu is solving the education recruitment problems of the future by using innovative technology such as artificial intelligence and by partnering with the most reputable schools in the UK such as Ark Schools. Worktu most recently met with the Permanent Secretary for the Department for Education, who praised the companies innovative solution and social impact.
Worktu has three different stages within its platform which they aim to build over the next three years. To date and for the next year, they aim to focus on creating an online platform whereby schools are guaranteed top quality supply teachers at an affordable price. The second stage of the platform will allow schools to search and book interviews with permanent teachers who they may wish to hire immediately or in the near future. The final stage of the platform will use artificial intelligence to match teachers with schools. This will help reduce the teacher retention rates as teachers will be matched to a school environment which will suit them the best.
Worktu was created due to a problem faced by one rural school in Essex. At the time, the governor of the school decided to solve the hiring problem they faced, by advertising online for local supply teachers. A few months later, some of the surrounding schools requested supply teachers as well once they heard how much cheaper it was and how great the quality of teachers was. Vini Bance, the governor of the school at the time then decided that this had the potential to be a great business, and that’s how Worktu began. Worktu is founded by Vini Bance and is an online marketplace where schools can log in, search teacher profiles and book teachers instantly.
The most common route of hiring supply teachers currently is to use traditional recruitment agencies. They can charge up to £250 per day for a teacher in inner London of which £100 is the agencies commission charges. Once the teacher has gone through the umbrella agencies payroll system, they end up receiving less than £110 for their daily work. Worktu however, charges schools a fixed rate of £140 for every teacher hired, plus a £27 booking fee, per teacher, per day. Worktu teachers are self-employed and receive the full £140 as quoted. They also do not have to wait up to two weeks for their payments, as they do with traditional recruitment agencies, as Worktu provides next day pay.
The company aims to grow the business in the next 3 – 5 years and expand internationally by operating in countries such as Australia and India. If they were to be acquired then it would be by a dominant education corporation in the UK such as TES. If they were to expand into another niche sector then it would be one such as providing care workers to care homes in the UK.