Meet the technology firm aiming to match teachers with their perfect school

left to right: Dan Price, Riana Gatfield, Tim Mercer, Michael Heverin
Dan, Michael and Raina are all co-founders of SupplyWell. Tim Mercer is CEO of Vapour Cloud. — left to right: Dan Price, Riana Gatfield, Tim Mercer, Michael Heverin Dan, Michael and Raina are all co-founders of SupplyWell. Tim Mercer is CEO of Vapour Cloud.

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Liverpool-headquartered SupplyWell aims to save schools large sums on recruitment fees.

A spokesman said: “A staggering £1.26bn is reportedly spent on supply teachers each year, with up to £520m going to agencies.

“An application with a real-time algorithm has been developed to put schools and high-calibre teachers in direct contact, so that they can find the perfect match as vacancies arise.”

SupplyWell’s founders are working with Elland-based Vapour Cloud to integrate video into its technology.

The spokesman added: “The move means that, by the first quarter of 2020, schools and prospective teachers will be able to communicate ‘face-to-face’ wherever they may be, as they work towards making a recruitment decision.”

SupplyWell’s co-founder Dan Price said: “There is a strong ‘tech for good’ ethos within our company – something we identified as the driver behind Vapour’s TeleDOC video solution. This shared sense of purpose is what kickstarted our conversations.

“We explained how, in addition to saving schools money, SupplyWell is working hard to improve wellbeing levels within the education sector too.

“My business partner and former teacher, Michael Heverin, has witnessed first-hand the physical and mental health issues within the profession.”

Vapour’s CEO Tim Mercer added: “SupplyWell is like Uber for schools. The guys told us that teachers have missed roughly 1.3 million days of work over the last four years due to stress and mental health reasons, with 33 per cent reported to be leaving the profession after five years.”