Maximise value for pupils
Maximise budgets and redirect resources to where they have the greatest impact.
Managed service partnership
We help school and trust leaders take control of supply through Edwin Alliance, our education managed service partnership (MSP). Using data, technology and expert partnership to build workforce planning into organisational design rather than treating cover as a reactive bolt-on.
By combining education recruitment expertise, reliable technology, real-time data and dedicated account management, we give leaders the visibility, consistency and confidence to manage supply more effectively. Across our partnerships, we have delivered average first-year savings of 50%, while improving control, compliance and continuity for pupils.
99%
Average supply fill rate
10,000+
Registered teachers and support staff
24
Branches providing reach and expertise
3,000
New support staff brought into the workforce
What we do
Edwin Alliance gives school and trust leaders the control, visibility and confidence to manage supply as part of their wider education workforce strategy. By bringing all temporary staffing requirements through one expert point of contact, we make supply simpler to manage, improve consistency and ensure every candidate is recruited, vetted and managed to the same high standards.
What is a managed service partnership (MSP)?
A managed service partnership brings your preferred agencies under one framework, managed by us as the master vendor. It provides a smarter and more strategic approach to supply staffing with:
- One accountable point of contact for supply staffing
- One consolidated invoice
- One agreed rate card for preferred suppliers
- One system for timesheets, single central record, supply diary, forecasted supply spend and more
- One safeguarding standard
- One temp-to-perm arrangement for all agencies
The benefits of an MSP
Maintain consistent staffing
Ensure schools have access to the staff they need, when they need them.
One trusted partner
Benefit from a single, accountable workforce partnership managing the entire supply process.
Complete spend visibility
Gain real-time insight and control over supply spend across your school or trust.
Reduce compliance risk
Strengthen governance with fully compliant, audit-ready processes and strong safeguarding controls.
Increase strategic capacity
Free up school and central team resources to focus on priorities that drive pupil outcomes.
How we can help
Multiple procurement routes
We understand procurement. That's why we give you a choice of different procurement frameworks options to ensure you get the best value coupled with the right guidance and procurement expertise to make the right decision for your trust. Whether you are choosing an MSP solution, or want to join up HR or compliance services in the same procurement process, we have path for you.
School Portal+
Designed specifically for multi-academy trusts, School Portal+ gives leaders the real-time management information they need to take control of supply. More than an online booking system, it provides clear visibility of spend, booking habits, absence trends and the reasons driving cover across every school in your trust.
In one platform, central teams can monitor usage, forecast spend, compare patterns across schools, and understand where agency reliance is increasing. This level of visibility gives finance, HR and operations leaders greater confidence when reporting supply spend to the board. It creates the insight needed to work strategically with headteachers to reduce cost and demand over time.
By combining multi-user booking, compliance visibility, consolidated invoicing and actionable management information in one place, School Portal+ helps trusts move from reactive supply management to informed workforce planning through strategic workforce partnerships.
Key benefits
Using real-time information, the dashboards provide key insights that will help inform your multi-academy trust's supply bookings and spending decisions.
- Real-time supply intelligence across every school, role and supplier.
- Board-ready reporting with clear workforce insights you can act on.
- Strategic workforce planning driven by trends, absence data and spend analysis.
- Accountability across schools with transparent usage and cost tracking.
- Simpler compliance and SCR-aligned record-keeping.
- Consolidated invoicing for simpler financial management.
- Clear visibility of workforce activity, costs and budget allocation.
- Absence tracking analytics to identify patterns and recurring cover needs.
Why work with us
Trusted by over 6,000 schools and 800 multi-academy trusts, Edwin Alliance helps education organisations reduce cost, strengthen workforce planning and gain greater control over their supply. Edwin Alliance is our managed service partnership, bringing all your recruitment together under one contract, so you always know what's happening, what it's costing, and that everything's compliant, across your whole workforce. Our managed service partnership has proven year-one savings of up to 50% and a 99% average fill rate.
Edwin Alliance brings together the scale, specialist expertise and education insight needed to make supply work better for schools and trusts. We understand that supply is not just a booking process; it affects budgets, pupil continuity, staff workload, compliance and wider workforce planning. That is why our managed service partnerships are designed around the realities of education, with experience spanning SEND and alternative provision, mainstream primary, mixed-phase trusts, regional, and national multi-academy trusts.
We combine national reach with local expertise, giving leaders access to high-quality teachers and support staff, reliable safeguarding processes, dedicated account management and real-time management information. Our approach makes supply simpler to manage, strengthens control and gives central teams the visibility they need to make confident decisions.
That's the Edwin advantage at work: we don't just look at your supply numbers; we take the time to understand your organisation, so we can spot what might otherwise be missed and bring the right expertise to the table when you need it.
What people say
Real organisations. Real challenges. Real impact.
Schools and trusts we partner with
We’re proud to partner with over 6,000 schools and 800 multi-academy trusts.
Your route to partnership
We work closely with you at every stage, from initial planning through to post-launch support, to make the transition smooth and keep disruption to schools and central teams to a minimum. Our dedicated team helps you build the right foundations, deliver a successful go-live, and get lasting value from the partnership.
- 1
Pre-planning
Agreement on the core partnership project team. Confirm the project plan. Finalise contractual agreements.
- 2
Discovery
Collate agency spend and quality data for review, understand school requirements and build local relationships.
- 3
Design & build
Onboard agencies to the supply chain. Key performance indicators, compliance and reporting. School Portal+ management information system training. Build recruitment plans.
- 4
Go-live
Action priorities across the go-live period and dedicated account management and support.
- 5
Post-launch support
Hypercare period with a weekly review of supply. Focus on hiring manager, worker, and sub-vendor experience.
Become a supply partner with our managed service partnerships
At Edwin, we believe the best managed service partnerships are built on collaboration, not competition.
Our supplier partners play a vital role in helping schools access outstanding education professionals. We don't see agencies as transactional suppliers; we see them as long-term partners who share our commitment to quality, safeguarding and exceptional service.
Whether you already work with schools in one of our partner trusts or are looking to expand your reach, our education MSP model gives you access to consistent opportunities while simplifying the recruitment process.
Why partner with Edwin?
When you join our approved supplier network, you'll benefit from:
- Access to vacancies across multiple schools within our partner trusts
- Consistent opportunities through long-term workforce planning
- Simpler processes with one central point of contact
- Transparent communication and regular performance feedback
- Faster, simpler onboarding through our School Portal+
- A genuine partnership focused on shared success, not transactional placements
Ready to partner with us?
If you're an education recruitment agency that shares our commitment to quality, safeguarding and exceptional service, we'd love to hear from you.
Join our trusted supplier network and become part of a partnership that's helping schools access the people they need, when they need them.
We understand multi-academy trusts
Charnice Scott
Director of Strategy and Partnerships
Sarah Monk
Chief Strategy Officer
Get in touch
Please fill out the form below, and a member of the Edwin team will contact you for a confidential discussion.