South Ayrshire has a published absence-cover agreement with school and central funding provisions.
06Partly established
Supply · Absence cover · School staffing
When a teacher is absent, what happens next?
How do authorisation, funding and local cover rules affect whether external supply is booked?
What the reviewed evidence establishes
What we know.
Dumfries and Galloway’s 2026 budget record documents separate decisions about a supply-pool proposal and an absence-budget proposal.
A cover threshold is not automatically evidence that a class received no teaching provision.
Evidence boundary
What this does not establish.
- The reviewed sources do not provide a national measure of uncovered absence.
- School-level outcomes require separate records rather than inference from policy alone.
Original evidence
Check the sources.
Source notes state what was reviewed and the qualification that should remain attached when the material is cited.
JNCT1.19 Absence Cover Agreement
South Ayrshire JNCT / SNCT
General principles, section 4; secondary funding section
What this source can and cannot establish
School-versus-central funding thresholds are not blanket no-cover periods.
You Said, We Did / Did Not: 2026 budget consultation decisions
Dumfries and Galloway Council
PDF p. 7, proposals 4.01 and 4.02
What this source can and cannot establish
An agreed pool-removal proposal and a rejected absence-budget reduction are separate decisions. Implementation and effects were not established.
Pupil Equity Funding national operational guidance 2026–27: staffing considerations
Scottish Government
Staffing subsection
What this source can and cannot establish
Additionality and employment security are different questions. The guidance does not guarantee an individual post or future funding.
Next investigation
07Secure supply: what has been tried?